
Qass ij4>- 

Book 



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HISTOEY OF THE 



NATIONAL jL!t 



CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, 



FROM MAY, 1848. 



BY J. F. CORKBAN, ESQ. 



NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
82 CLIFF STREET. 

184 9. 






\ 



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m 



PREFACE. 



The Author of this history had been for some months 
in almost daily attendance at the National Assembly, 
when repeated questions put to him about the style, 
manner, and appearance of such members as were at- 
tracting public attention, suggested the idea of writing 
sketches, calculated in some degree to satisfy the curiosity 
of friends. A consideration of persons led naturally to 
an expose of such subjects as had become identified with 
particular names ; and as the recent Revolution has had 
the effect of throwing down all that had been taken for 
granted, and of causing most political and social questions 
to be brought into light and examining, as if in themselves 
new, a Work which aimed not beyond simple portraiture, 
unavoidably assumed a certain politico-philosophical text- 
ure. Having, for purposes of his own, taken notes of 
the many speeches he had heard, the Author can truly 
describe this to be an original effort at painting a series 
of scenes, which it was given to but few of his country- 
men to witness. . 



IV 



PREFACE. 



The debates of the Assembly, from the first day of 
meeting to the invasion by the Clubs on the 15th of 
May, and from that day to the Insurrection of June, re- 
ceive daily notice, for the sake of showing how far the 
proceedings of this body tended to bring about that terri- 
ble struggle, in which the question at stake was — civili- 
zation itself. From that period, only such debates as 
serve to throw light on great or interesting questions, or 
to bring out remarkable individuals, are at all noticed. 
In fine, the Assembly, chosen by Universal Suffrage, and 
occupied with questions of a political or social character, 
was composed of the most varied characters and persons. 
The parties known under the names of Republicans — 
Moderate and Hed, Socialists, Communists, Bonapartists, 
and Monarchists, all enter readily into the reader's clas- 
sification. Then for the personnel: there were men 
whose names had never before been heard of, by the side 
of well-established reputations : there were lawyers and 
doctors, from town and country ; bishops, priests, friars, 
and pasteurs ; nobles and workmen, even to the humblest 
proletaire. Not the least curious part of the study 
opened by such various persons, was the comparative 
effect produced by the new lamps and the old, on an As- 
sembly whose temper changed with its age, and was 
modified by the strangely shifting events with which it 
was bound up Before it was a fortnight old, this As- 
sembly had to withstand an assault upon its existence ; 



PREFACE. V 

later, again, it had to defend society from a fearful up- 
rising of the masses, instigated and led by perverted in- 
telligence and corrupted talents. So far, it was triumph- 
ant ; but then it had to struggle, and in vain, against an 
heir of the Emperor, and it had to struggle against its 
ovi^n strong instinctive tendencies to become a Conven- 
tion. To follow the Assembly through these struggles 
and efforts — to mark the men who influenced its career, 
for good or evil — such is the task into which the Author 
found himself almost insensibly drawn ; certain, at all 
events, that whatever may be the extent of his own 
failure to exhibit becomingly the drama, and the dramatis 
personce^ yet that, if he has succeeded in making his 
sketches of a suggestive character to the reader's mind, 
his labor will not have been thrown away, nor his reader's 
time lost. 

May, 1849. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Meeting of the National Assembly — Its Physiognomy — General Courtais* 
strange Proposal — Proclamation of the Repubhc from the Steps of the 
Chamber 13 

CHAPTER 11. 

First Operations — M. Buchez — Newspaper Influence — ^The Men of the 
" National," and the Men of the " Reforme" 25 

CHAPTER III. 

The Members of the Provisional Government — Their Reports — Lamar- 
tine — Portrait of Cremieux — Of Louis Blanc — Of Camot 30 

CHAPTER IV. 

Gamier Pages — Arago — Marie, the real Author of the National Ateliers 
— Lamartine — Beranger — A Parliamentary Hurricane — The " Moun- 
tain" and Barbes — The Histoiy of the Conspirators — The Provisional 
Government declared to have merited well of their Country 40 

CHAPTER V. 

M. Peupin, Ouvrier — Workmen in the Assembly — M. L'Herbette — The 
serious Consequences of his Accusation against the Ex- King regarding 
the Forests of the State — Cormenin — Power of the Pamphlet — Bac — 
Jules Favre — Father Lacordaix-e — Odilon Ban'ot — On the Parliament- 
aiy Storm — The Executive Committee formed 54 



viii CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Executive Commission—Decline of Lamartine— Its Cause — M. 
Wolowski raises the Workman's Question — Peupin, a Workman, 
opposes Louis Blanc — Feeling in the Clubs ,,....,.........= .,...- 69 

CHAPTER VII. 

Influence of eminent men — M. Vivien — The new Ministry— Their Defi- 
ciencies — M. Flocon, their Spokesman ........................... 75 

CHAPTER VIII. 
M. Berryer — Napoleon Bonaparte, Son of Jerome ........... „.o .... . 80 

CHAPTER IX. 

Petition in favor of Poland — Bad Feeling toward the National Guards— 
The Fete de la Fratemit6 postponed — Agitation out of Doors — Pro- 
cession of the Clubs — Invasion of the Assembly — Its attempted Over- 
throw — Raspail, Blanqui, Huber, &c. — A Revolution of an Hour — 
Sobrier's Expedition — Panic in Paris — Arrest of the Conspirators — 
Night Scene .................................................. 83 

CHAPTER X. 

Irritation of the Assembly — Marc Caussidiere — Surrender of the Pre- 
fecture of Police — M. Ducoux — Lucien Murat ..... ....... 103 

CHAPTER XI. 
A stormy Sitting.................. 110 

CHAPTER XII. 
Lugubrious Miscellanies — M. Dupin 112 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Anger of the Assembly not yet appeased — Singular Debate about the 
Manner of wearing Scarfs — The " F^te de la Concorde" — The Paris- 
ians a theatrical People — Adaptation of Paris for Spectacles — What 
took place in the Day, and what at Night. 117 



CONTENTS. ix 



CHAPTER XIV. 

General Baragnay cl'Hilliers — Appearance of Cavaignac — The Mai-quis 
de la Rochejacquelin — M. de Lamartine's Speech on Italy and Poland 
— Absurd Resolution 122 



CHAPTER XV. 

Decree banishing the Family of Louis-Philippe — Jealousy shown toward 
the Bonapartes — Agitation in the National Ateliers — Attempts to cure 
growing Abuses — How received — Disappearance of Emile Thomas, 
Chief Director of the Ateliers — Application to prosecute Louis Blanc 130 

CHAPTER XVL 

Report of the Committee on Louis Blanc — Ill-will toward the Bona- 
partes — The Cross of the Legion of Honor — Prosecution of Louis Blanc 
refused — Split between Crfemieux and Favre 186 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Chibs out of Doors — A Razzia — Law against Attroupements — Elec- 
tions for vacant Seats — Curious Contrasts shown by the Returns — De- 
feat of the Republicans — Returns of Conservatives, Bonapartists, and 
Communists — The Attroupements continue — Alarm caused by the 
Populaiity of Louis Napoleon — Animated Debate — M. Duprat — M. 
Babaud-Laribi^re — New Republican Literature — General Bedeau — 
A Bonapartist Plot — A Decree against Louis Napoleon stopped by 
General Lavalet 140 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Agitation on the Subject of Louis Napoleon — Debate in the Assembly 
regarding his Admission — Portrait of Ledi-u-Rollin 151 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Louis Napoleon resigns — His Letter excites Anger — Bill affecti'ng old 
Officers causes Dissatisfaction — Fatal Collision at Gueret — Pierre Le- 
roux, the Communist ,. 160 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XX. 
M. Marrast ..... 167 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Victor Hugo — Leon Faucher — Debate on the National Ateliers — Agita- 
tion without — MancEuvers of the Clubs to precipitate the Insurrection 
— ^Apathy of the Middle Classes, and its Causes 172 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Insurrection of June — First Day, the 23d — The Assembly 187 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
The Insurrection, second Day, June 24th — The Assembly 199 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
The Insurrection, third Day, June 25th — The Assembly , 212 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The Insurrection, fourth day, June 26th — The Assembly — Termination 
of the Struggle 225 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Paris after the Battle...... 230 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Assembly — Cavaignac, President of the Government — His Cabinet 
— General Lamorici^re — M. Senard — M. Goudchaux — Eau sucree — 
Review of a Month — Abb§ de Lamennais — Mauguin 246 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
The Pasteur Coquerel .- 256 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
M.Thiers ....,,,.. = ... ,....,...- = =,.,, 260 



CONTENTS. xi 

CHAPTER XXX. 
M. Proudhon 270 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
M. Cozisiderant 284 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

The Newspaper Press — Anthony Thouret — English Alliance — The Camp 
of St. Maur 296 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Debates on the Constitution — Abbe Fayet — Democracy — Fresueaii — De 
Tocqueville 301 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Duvergier de Hauranne 309 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
Montalambert — De Falloux — Billanlt 312 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
Lagrange of Lyons 315 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte — Ex-Baron Charles Dupin 318 

CHAPTER XXXVIIL 
FklvL Pyatt and the Mountain 330 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
M. Dufaure — Count Mole — Marshal Bugeaud i . - 334 



xii CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Promulgation of the Constitution — General Cavaignac — ^Election for first 
President of the Republic 346 

CHAPTER XLI. 

First Cabinet under Louis Napoleon — M. de Maleville, his successfol 
D€but, and immediate Retirement — Changes — M. Passy 355 

CHAPTER XLH. 

Movement against the Constituent Assembly — Proposition for Dissolution 
— Pierre Bonaparte heads the Opposition — His extraordinary Demean- 
or — Resolution of Odilon Barrot — Stormy Debate — Party Intrigues — 
Vice-President of the Republic — Impeachment of Ministers — Paris 
threatened with another Revolution — Assembly at length resolves its 
Dissolution — General Cavaignac and General Changarnier 361 

Conclusion ,, = . = . 372 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. 



CHAPTER I. 



MEETING OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ITS PHYSIOGNOMY GEN- 
ERAL COURTAIS' STRANGE PROPOSAL PROCLAMATION OF THE 

REPUBLIC FROM THE STEPS OF THE CHAMBER. 

It was an extraordinary sight, the meeting of the French 
National Assembly on the 4th of May, 1848. How unlike in 
its composition to what is generally understood by a House of 
Commons, or Chamber of Deputies, returned by constituencies 
more or less limited, to support certain principles or political 
systems with clearly indicated names, and personified in tried 
and well known leaders. That Assembly was created by uni- 
versal suffrage, its principles all to be sought after, and its leaders 
but dimly indicated. Principles, laws, leadership, systems, in- 
fluences were to be determined by struggle. The ground was 
cleared of all opposing prejudices. The race was open to all. 
There was no established pre-eminence to frown down, sneer 
down, censure down, or smile down, any sort of disputant, be he 
whom he might ; no doctrine could startle, no language seem 
strange. The world expected some new unknown prophet — 
some one capable of reading the mystery supposed to be hidden 
in the great popular convulsion which had taken place. There 
was a religious awe over that Assembly, for it was deeply im- 



14 MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLYo 

pressed on the minds of many, if not of all, that Providence had 
not permitted so astounding a change, one threatening to be so 
boundless in its effects, unless for the bringing of some wonderful 
purpose to light, by unfamiliar instruments. The order of estab- 
lished parliaments was reversed, the difficulties were in the way 
of reputation and eminence. Ail the facilities were for the 
unknown. 

The building in which the nine hundred representatives met, 
was provisional. It was run up for the occasion, slight and 
pretentious — a sort of well-ordered scaffolding — to facilitate the 
elaboration of the Constitution, and then to be thrown down. 
There are strange coincidences in localities. That Tennis Court 
at Versailles, into which the States-general, when the doors of 
their place of meeting were shut against them, rushed and joined 
in the immortal oath of the jeu de pawne, was not inappropriate. 
The naked and harsh simplicity of such a place was not unsuited 
to men sternly marching to equality of condition. The game of 
rude rivalry so often played there, had no unfitting associations. 
There must have been some harmony between the place and the 
actors, to have so strongly fired the genius of the artist, and to 
have fascinated the eyes of all who had ever seen the work, original 
or engraved. It was in keeping with the character of a people 
who reverence law, that the first battle about ship money should 
have been in the Court of Exchequer. The Gracchi and Tell 
had scenes associated with their first endeavors. Even in modern 
maiden parliamentary meetings, be it by accident or design, some 
place consecrated by the occasion will be visited in time to come ; 
but the great, or nionstre temporary shed, in which the National 
Assembly of France first met, with its pasteboard figures without, 
and its pasteboard presidential canopy within, its endless tri-col- 
ored flags in faisceaux, and its scenic decorations, partaking partly 
of the circus, and partly of the Bal Morel, will disappear like a 
mimic stage scene, carrying with it no unapt commentary on the 
no less fragile performance beneath its roof. 

Let this passing reflection on ephemeral architecture be for- 
given — for those who were not present on that day, can hardly 
estimate the feverish state of observation to which the minds of 



"VIVE LA REPUBLIQUE!" 15 

beholders present were raised. People looked at every one and 
every thing with a stranc^e inexplicable curiosity. Those who 
had read and heard of that mightiest event in all history, the 
first French Revolution, and had speculated often, wondering 
many a time how those who then lived had thought and felt, 
and how they bore the emotions which each hour awakened, and 
how some must have grown callous, some careless, and others 
mad — such persons found to their amazement that, may be, 
they too were destined to pass through the fiery trial of similar 
experience I 

But the Assembly has met. How is it to be classified? 
What guide has the eye through that mass of nine hundred 
legislators ? The only thmg certain is, that all have accepted 
the Republic. 

Although the actors were present, the drama did not properly 
begin until the members of the Provisional Goverimient appeared. 
The shout of Vive la Republique ! burst from the Assembly as 
they entered. It was loud, it was unanimous, and it was repeated ; 
yet it may be doubted if it was heartfelt. To my ear it did not 
sound so. I shall never forget that cry — the first audible voice 
of that universal-sufir age-elected body. My ear retained it well, 
and my mind criticised, and, as it were, handled that sound, as 
if it were a material substance ; but there was a something in 
the tone that the sure, yet impalpable test of sympathy, pro- 
nounced to be factitious. The majority who uttered that cry, 
did so under the fierce suspicious surveillance, not only of fellow 
members but of lynx eyes in the gallery. There are vehement 
shouts that are the act of the wdll, determined by calculation and 
reflection, and self-imposed ; but they do not awaken a response, 
like the deep heart-felt music of a holy sentiment through unmis' 
takable sincerity of voice. 

Pwun the eye rapidly along these benches. There is the comely 
face of De la Pwochejacquelin, resting on an unsullied expanse of 
snow-white neck-cloth and waistcoat, as if he had come to a royal 
sitting in the time of Charles X. M. Berryer was there, the 
brilliant leader of the legitimist party as it had been constituted 
in the Chamber of Deputies. Odilon Barrot, whose last public 



16 THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 

effort was in favor of the Regency, stood near to Dupin, the 
confidential law adviser of Louis-Philippe. Duvergier de Hau- 
ranne, Malleville, Remusat, Faucher, and many friends of M. 
Thiers stood there, brooding over the organized ostracism of which 
their brilliant leader had been made the victim, and they cried, 
Vive Ioj Repuhlique I 

M. Dufaure, who had refused to assist at a Reform banquet ; 
Count Montalembert, the vigorous champion of the Swiss Jesuits ; 
the Abbe Lacordaire, in his white Dominican robes ; the Bishop 
of Orleans, the sober Abbe Fayet, from Brittany, the land of 
Vendeans and Chouans ; ^ the Protestant Pastor Coquerel — all 
joined in the cry. Is it to be wondered at, that to the watchful 
ear it was the harmony of science, not of soul ; the accent of 
resignation, not of joy ? And it was repeated again and again on 
the challenge of those who wished to be satisfied, that they heard 
a true sound, and the challenge was unblenchingly answered, by 
priests, lawyers, statesmen, thrown so incongruously together by 
an inexplicable cowp-cle-main. 

The members of the Provisional Government naturally attracted 
the eyes of all who were present. The aged Dupont de I'Eure, 
bending under the weight of four-score years, leant on the arm 
of the boyish-looking little Louis Blanc. The burly Ledru Rollin 
held the arm of a mean-looking person, who was Flocon. The 
noble old philosopher, Arago, contrasted with the somewhat pert, 
theatrical looking Marrast ; and the elegant imaginative-faced 
Lamartine, made the little ugly Cremieux look more ugly, and 
the heavy Pagnerre more heavy. Garnier Pages, to whose com- 
mon, yet sickly features, his locks curling to his shoulders, gave 
an air of coxcombry that sat ill on the Finance Minister of a 
country in a revolution, contrasted with the grave and truly 
elegant demeanor of the avocat, Marie. Carnot, the son of the 
ConventionaHst, called the organizer of victory, exhibited his pale, 
ascetic features by the side of the dogged and sinister looking 
Albert, the workman. 

Thus, as far as appearances went, the Provisional Govern- 

* Since the above was written, the Abbe Fayet fell a victim to 
cholera. 



ITS ADDRESS TO THE ASSEMBLY. 17 

ment resembled any similar number of men, showing, as it did, 
the average mixture of well and ill-favored countenances. But 
where was the pilot who was to weather the storm ? In that 
group there was poetry, science, heroism, with violence, ambition, 
and low vices ; there was noble self-deception and reckless illu- 
sion ; there was angel and devil, good and evil ; lofty aspirations 
and deep designs; there was the incarnation of all the senti- 
ments, passions, aspirations, and vices of human society, but with 
a solemn vow to make the better triumph ; there was wanting, 
in each and all, political experience and political knowledge — 
nay, there was a contempt for both, as for a broken galley-chain, 
that had only served to bind mankind to systems from which he 
was to break forever, and launch into the unknown — believing 
his excited hopes to be heavenly inspirations. 

The following address was read from the tribune in a weak 
voice by the aged Dupont de I'Eure : — " Citizens I representa- 
tives of the people I the Provisional Government of the Republic 
comes to incline itself before the nation, and to render conspicuous 
homage to the supreme power with which you are invested. Elect 
of the people I welcome to the great capitol where your presence 
excites a sentiment of happiness and hope that will not be disap- 
pointed, Depositaries of the National Sovereignty, you are about 
to found new institutions upon the wide basis of the democracy, 
and to give to France the only Constitution that is suitable to 
her — that of the Republic. But after having proclaimed the 
grand pohtical law, which is henceforth to definitively constitute 
the country, you will endeavor to employ the efficacious action 
of the Government, as far as possible, in the relations that the 
necessity of labor establishes among all citizens, and which ought 
to have for base the holy laws of Justice and Fraternity. In 
fine, the moment has arrived for the Provisional Government to 
place in your hands the unlimited power with which it was 
invested by the Revolution. For us, the dictatorship was only 
treated as a moral power in the midst of the difficult circum- 
stances we have traversed. Faithful to our origin and our per- 
sonal convictions, we have all been called to proclaim the rising 
Pwepublic of February. To-day we inaugurate the labors of the 



LEDRU ROLLIN'S COMMISSIONERS. 



Assembly, with the cry that always rallies us together, Vive la 
Republique /" 

At the close, the shouts of Vive la Republique ! were repeat- 
ed. M. Cremieux, the Minister of Justice, invited the members 
to enter the Bureaux, to have their elections validated, and the 
first scene of the great drama closed. 

The verification of the elections was a simple and rapid process, 
limited merely to proof of identity and citizenship ; and it was 
well that it was so, for had a handle for litigation been offered, 
through complex conditions, there can be no doubt that it would 
have been seized hold of by the old Republican party, who had 
already manifested their disappointment at the character of the 
returns. So completely had the Revolution been the work of a 
party in the capital, and so little did the departments sympathize 
with it, that it was deemed necessary by the Minister of the 
Interior to send Commissioners through the provinces, to make 
themselves acquainted with the state of feeling, to preach up 
Republicanism, and to get themselves returned. As these Com- 
missioners were indicated for the most part by the Clubs, they 
were animated with the violent spirit of these assemblages, and 
their rude bearing and subversive doctrines excited angry resist- 
ance and passionate resentment. The Commissioners were armed 
with unlimited power, which they exercised in the full sense of 
the word, displacing local authorities, overruling local councils, 
giving forced currency to the notes of local banks, and, in fact, 
ruling with dictatorial power. Their march into the departments 
had been heralded by a circular, which immediately acquired 
celebrity from the distinction that it drew between Republicai7is 
cle la veille and RepuUicains du lendemain, to the disadvantage 
of the latter. 

Now, as the mass of the inhabitants of every portion of France 
ranged under the latter category, not only was exclusion pro- 
nounced against the majority, but as there is in every neighbor- 
hood some busy, idle, turbulent, and needy agitator, the people 
saw themselves threatened with that unendurable evil, their 
prostration at the feet of an obnoxious member ; and the conse- 
quence was distrust of the new Government, and resistance to its 



THE ELECTION RETURNS. ig 



emissaries. In several places there were collisions, generally ex- 
cited by the partisans of the Government Commissioner ; but at 
Rouen there was a fierce contest between the military and 
National Guards on the one side, and the workmen on the other. 
The latter threw up barricades, that had to be taken by cannon. 

Generally speaking, it must be confessed, the voting went on 
with a degree of order that, considering the circumstances under 
which a whole people were called upon to exercise such a priv- 
ilege as that of universal suffrage, was truly admirable ; and 
proved, indeed, that the Revolution ought not to have been chal- 
lenged on a mere question of a moderate extension of the fran- 
chise. The returns, too, instead of marking a revolutionary dis- 
position, were such as might have been expected under the mon- 
archy itself, being composed of mayors, manufacturers, farmers, 
officers on half pay, the judges, law officers, doctors, or notaries 
of the locality : in a word, the notabilities of the place, or names 
already celebrated in the eyes of the public at large. Of course 
the Government Commissioners were very many of them re- 
turned, but it was evident that the Repiiblicains de la veille 
would form a small minority in the National Assembly. 

Although the Revolutionists had relied chiefly on the sympa- 
thies of the working classes, yet very few operatives were returned, 
and the Assembly presented a fair image of French society, as at 
present constituted, which is only another way of saying that it 
was by its very nature Conservative. There was, indeed, a dif- 
ference, amounting to a contrast between the National Assembly 
of 1789 and that of 1848. The first came charged with the 
elements of class struggles : the latter had derived, as the result 
of those struggles, an equahty of condition and partition of agri- 
cultural property, so that division of the soil had been pushed to 
such a point as to interfere with the full development of its capa- 
bilities. The latter being in this position, had nothing to gain, 
if not every thing to lose, by the social theories that had made 
cities dens of idleness and schools of civil war, and so they came 
to maintain, and not to overthrow. 

Although it may look ]ike a paradox to assert that it was the 
Conservative disposition of the country that caused the Pwepublic 



20 ELEMENTS OF DISTRUST. 



to be so readily accepted, yet the fact is so. There had been so 
many changes of government in France within sixty years, that 
pecuhar prestige for any had long ceased. It did not follow in 
the minds of people, familiar alike with Republic, Directory, Con- 
sulate, Emperor, Restoration, Legitimacy, and Legitimacy set 
aside in 1830, that a relapse into one or other of the same phases 
should inevitably lead to ruin. The Republic had, like all new 
governments, announced that nothing would be changed — ^that 
the Revolution was a reaction against corruption, that was lead- 
ing to financial ruin — ^that there would be fewer expenses, more 
economy, less taxation, and that, in fact, there was only in a 
monarch's overthrow a Frenchman de mains, as Louis XVIIT. 
had called himself a Frenchman de plus. Such was, in fact, 
the first language used by the Provisional Government ; for, al- 
though very soon indeed the socialist elem.ent broke out, yet there 
had been an interval which, short as it was, between the sudden 
declaration of the Republic and the Communism of Louis Blanc, 
was yet sufficient to enable the assent of the provinces to be ob- 
tained, on a belief in the truth of the moderate sentiments pro- 
pounded, in the first instance, by the Provisional Government. 

From this general view of the subject, it will be seen that at 
the very m.oment the National Assembly met, there was a gen- 
eral and common feeling of distrust. There was a still smold- 
ering conspiracy at work on the part of the Socialist faction in 
conjunction with the Clubs. That conspiracy had already failed 
in two instances : on the 1 7th of March, when the workmen 
marched to the H6tel-de-Ville, and mistaking the views of their 
leaders, shouted for the Provisional Government, which their 
demonstration was, as they thought, meant to support— although 
their leaders contemplated its subversion, and would have over- 
thrown it, had the chief conspirator not lost heart : and again., 
on the 16th of April, when a plan for destroying the same 
Government was defeated by the prompt and energetic conduct 
of General Changarnier, who called out the National Guard. 

In ten days from the meeting of the National Assembly, the 
same conspiracy was to be directed against the Assembly itself. 
But we are anticipating. Was there not. let it now be asked. 



DOUBLE I'LOT— OTHER ACTOES. oi 

sufficient ground for trusting the evidence of the senses, that that 
cry of Vive la Republique ! which met the Provisional Govern- 
ment on its entry, was on the one side a challenge, on the other 
a constrained and resigned effort to disarm hostility and suspicion, 
and not the blended harmony of joyous and happy souls, identified 
in a common sympathy ? 

The first inauguratory scene of the great drama of the National 
Assembly was, as has already been told, of short duration, nor was 
it particularly impressive. But there was a double plot in the 
piece, which was not visible to the public eye. As the represent- 
atives of the people passed from the great stage, they encountered 
on the way to their respective bureaux, persons whose manner and 
costume showed that they too had their parts assigned, and were 
already performing them. Men, with long beards, pointed hats, 
and pieces of red cloth on their arms, met the representatives, 
who, by the way, wore — such of them, at least, as chose to 
attend to a fantastical decree of the Provisional Government on 
the subject — pieces of red ribbon, with gold tinsel thereon, at 
their button-hole ; and the men of decorated arms gazed broadly 
on the men of decorated and undecorated coats, rudely examined 
their air, their features, and general appearance, accompanied 
them to their bureaux, and even essayed to violate the sanctuary 
of the committee-room. 

Members complained and inquired, when they learned to their 
astonishment and indignation, that a deputation from the Clubs 
had waited on the Minister of the Interior, that they demanded 
that a portion of the public gallery should be assigned to Club 
delegates, charged with a commission to watch the proceedings 
of the Assembly ; and that for the more easy communication 
with the Clubs, arrogating to themselves, as they did, the true 
expression of public opinion, two bureaux should be assigned to 
the delegation, with pen, ink, paper, and all appliances and means 
to boot ; and to this imperious demand the Minister of the Inte- 
rior had courteously yielded. 

Thus, the representatives of the people, elected by universal 
suffrage, found the elements prepared for renewing the worst 
scenes of the first Convention. The galleries, or tribunes, as 



22 ARROGANCE OF THE CLUBS— SINISTER RUMORS. 

they are called, were to be brouglit to bear on the deliberations 
of the Assembly. The representatives were to meet under the 
muzzles of the sans-culotte artillery. The leaders of the Clubs, 
and the leaders of the Mountain, were to have their understood 
signals and mystic organization. While orations were uttering 
within, the aids-de-camp of demagogueism would be scouring 
through the streets, and the Assembly would find itself in the 
unrelaxing gripe of the mob. 

A fact, coming hard and strong upon the senses, tells more 
than the best authenticated communications. It had been whis- 
pered, that Monsieur un tel had said, in one place, that suspected 
Moderates, or doubtful Republicans, would, on crossing the bridge 
that leads to the Chamber, be thrown into the Seine ; that offi- 
cers, before they had been elected to command companies of 
National Guards, had had to subscribe to a declaration, that in 
case of a division of opinion between the people and the Assem- 
bly, they would act with the former ; that the Guard Mobile, in 
Clubs, had uttered their credo, as to the circumstances in which 
revolt would become the most sacred of duties. All this had 
been said in one shape or another, and had been listened to list- 
lessly, or proudly, or contemptuously, according to the tempera- 
ment ; but when the eye has to pierce into physiognomy, and 
read more than language can convey ; when the Club-man stands 
there, the representative of mysterious power, and shows by his 
demeanor that resolves have been made that shall be carried into 
execution, that there exists an illegitimate legislative and execu- 
tive rival, if not master, of the constituted authority itself — it 

is not permitted to the hardiest man to treat such audacity with 
indifference. The consequence was, that when the Assembly 
proceeded to regulate its internal form, a resolution was taken 
not to allow any interruption from the gallery, and, on a remon- 
strance from the members, the Clubs were deprived of their ex- 
officio rights within the walls. 

As the several elections became verified, the Chamber filled, 
and on the prompting of some or other enthusiastic Republican, 
the shout of Vive la Republique I would be raised. This was 
not, however, sufficient for the most ardent. The Commander- 



TROCLAMATION OF THE REPUBLIC. 23 

in-Chief of the National Guards, General Courtais, a good-lookinir 
elderly man, with an agreeable expression of face, in whose nat- 
urally handsome features there was a mixture of audacity and 
levity, the latter amounting to giddiness, ascended the tribune ; 
and although, as he said, they had proclaimed the Republic sev- 
enteen times that day, yet the people desired that they should 
go outside, that all might blend their voices together. What a 
strange part this for the Commander of the National Guards, 
charged with the protection of the assembly itself, to intimate to 
that body a message from the sovereign people, with an implied 
penalty for disobedience I But there was no time for reflection 
at such a moment. The people had for more than two months 
been too much accustomed to be petted and humored to make it 
safe to refuse such a proposal ; so the Assembly proceeded en 
masse to the peristyle of the old Chamber of Deputies, and the 
scene that occurred was, in all external respects, of the most ani- 
mated, beautiful, and — had it been sustained by moral grandeur 
— would have been of the most sublime kind. 

The scene from the bridge of the Chamber of Deputies is at 
all times imposing ; but at sunset, Avhen the weather is fine, 
indescribably beautiful. " 'Tis beautiful exceedingly !" Fancy 
a gorgeous sun immediately over, and enveloping that superb 
monument, the Arc de Triomphe de I'Etoile, sending its rays 
upon the sparkling fountains of the Place de la Concorde, and 
converting the red Egyptian column, the Luxor, into a pillar of 
dull flame ; the chaste architecture of the Madeleine becomes 
sweet silver ; the windows of the Tuileries glitter like the robes 
of a Queen of Sheba ; and then, far down on the river, in sober 
contrast with modern architectural beauties, the old Paris, behind 
its rampart, the Pont-Neuf, looking still a city of the Middle 
Ages, with the holy fane of St. Louis tempering the stifle, pike- 
like turrets of the Conciergerie, and behind all, the two saint-like 
towers of Notre Dame — sentinels of religion and of time, receiv- 
ing on their brows, softly and chastely, the retiring light, with 
many gems from old casements darting through the evening mist ; 
fancy all this, and then people the foreground, the steps of the 
Chamber, the bridge, the quays, the Place do la Concorde, with 



24 SCENE OUTSIDE THE CHAMBER. 



National Guards, Deputies, and a population suddenly surprised 
by a spectacle altogether created by a combination of novel and 
accidental circumstances, with, bands of music, leaving no sense 
ungratified, and you will understand that the universal shout of 
Vive la Republique ! was then, at all events, as heartfelt as it 
was universal. 

And so closed the first meeting of the National Assembly. 



CHAPTER II. 

FIRST OPERATIONS M. BUCHEZ NEWSPAPER INFLUENCE THE 

MEN OF THE "NATIONAL," AND THE MEN OF THE "REFORME." 

The Assembly met, for the second time, on Friday, the 5th 
of May, in order to appoint, by ballot, their various officers, such 
as president, vice-presidents, secretaries, and questors. The oper- 
ation was extremely tedious, owing to the clumsy manner in 
which the votes had to be collected ; a system subsequently 
abandoned for a more expert mode, but worthy of notice in this 
instance, because it served to show, in a striking manner, the 
materials of which the Assembly was composed. The balloting 
urns were placed on the tribune, and as it became necessary for 
each member to ascend and drop his vote into the urn, it will be 
seen that the time necessary for eight or nine hundred members 
to ascend and descend would be considerable. The mob-hke 
manner in which so many had to crowd to the foot of the tribune, 
was not favorable to quiet deportment ; and so, on the very first 
day, there was a dispute provoked by the rude conduct of Barbes, 
of whom we shall have more to say hereafter, in which the ex- 
change of names "Aristocrats" and " Factieux" were heard. 

There was, as we have had to notice, disaffection, on the part 
of the Revolutionists, at the character of the returns ; and al- 
though time had not been afforded for parties to group together, 
or for friends to recognize one another, yet the first nomination 
of officers would, it was fairly calculated, help to throw some 
light on the numerical strength of parties. Hence it was, that 
when the greater part of the day had been consumed in the 
election of president, which resulted in the defeat of the ultra 
party, the latter would not listen to an adjournment for the suc- 
ceeding election, thus occasioning the ferment in which the hard 
names were exchanged, such as we have just noticed. The 
Revolutionists gained their point, for the proceedings were carried 

B 



26 FRENCH NEWSPAPER PRESS. 

far into the evening, a half hour having been allowed to inter- 
vene for refreshments. The first scrutiny for President showed 
that 727 had voted. M. Buchez obtained 382 ; M. Trelat, 
234 ; and M. Recurt, 91 ; M. Buchez was thus declared first 
monthly President of the Assembly. 

The two defeated members had each figured as political con- 
spirators under the late reign, yet their titles were set aside for 
those of a Christian Socialist, of wavering opinions. M. Buchez 
was, moreover, a man of the National, favorably known by a 
history of the debates of the Convention, which he had compiled 
with M. Bastide, one of the editors of that now-governing paper ; 
and here let us make some observations with respect to news- 
paper influence, which, were we to omit, one of the main-springs 
of these present movements would be lost sight of altogether. 
The Pwevolution of February had hardly been accomplished, 
when a controversy arose upon the question, whether it was the 
men of the National, or the men of the Refor^ne, who made 
that revolution. We are not to infer that it was the writing 
contained in either or both of those journals that had produced 
such an effect. It is generally supposed in England, that be- 
cause the writer of newspaper articles in France is an avowed, 
recognized responsible person, his journal is therefore marked with 
a stamp of personality, which causes the paper to be regarded as 
the expression of an individual, rather than the manifesto of a 
party. Yet the truth is, that however well known the writer 
may be, he merges into the particular political sect of which the 
paper is, as it were, the pulpit. For years the National had 
been the organ of the Republican party, acting on the principles 
of their famous leaders, Armand Carrel and Godefroy Cavaignac, 
both of whom died young. After their death, the party was 
without a leader, properly speaking ; and although the paper 
continued to be conducted with remarkable talent, its circulation 
was extremely low, and its writers exercised no great influence 
upon the people. 

Sometime after M. Ledru Rollin had started in public life, a 
division arose in the republican party : the National was too 
tame for so fiery a tribune, and the Refer me was founded by 



THE " NATIONAL"— THE "REFORME." 27 

that gentleman, in conjunction with M. Flocon. On the famous 
night of the 23d of February, the bureaux of the National and 
of the Reforme were the scenes of busy intrigue and agitated 
councils. Whether the fiat went forth from the Natio7ial or 
from the Reforme, is still a question. The former journal 
asserts that on the morning of the fatal day, the watchwords, 
"J. has les Bourbons!'''' " Yive la Republique !''' were printed 
on slips in the office, and circulated ; so far compromising the 
paper, that, had the Republic not been declared, the crime of 
high treason hung over the heads of all concerned. The Reforme 
lays claim to rougher and deeper work ; in fact, to having raised 
the barricades and incited the attacks. 

The men of the National were the first to enjoy the fruits of 
the revolution which the men of the Reforme claim to have 
made. While Ledru E-oUin, and Flocon, and Caussidiere, 
stumbled in the race. General Cavaignac, the brother of Gode- 
froy, who adhered to the National party, rose to the highest 
office. Marrast, the chief writer, became successively Mayor 
of Paris and President of the Assembly, and what was perhaps 
a more gratifying honor, President of the Committee of the 
Constitution, and author of the great Charter of the Repubhc, 
to draw up which Cormenin and Lamennais had aspired in 
vain. Bastide, another writer, became Minister for Foreign Af- 
fairs ; Duclerc, a contributor. Minister of Finance. In fact, the 
highest and most honorable situations, at home and abroad, seats 
in the Cabinet, Prefectures, and embassies, devolved on the happy 
clique who wrote in the National. The dislike expressed by the 
Refoime is not the trading rivalry of shop with shop, but clique 
against clique. Although every paper has the stamp of person- 
ality upon it, yet the writer, unless he be a man of very great 
eminence, is not so much considered as the party leader whose 
organ the paper professes to be. The Siecle is not M. Cham- 
bole's, but Odilon Barrot. The Constitutionnel is not Veron or 
Merruan, but Thiers ; although neither Barrot nor Thiers wrote 
except on rare occasions in these organs of their parties. Le 
Bien Public is not M. Pelletan, but Lamartine ; and the Re- 
forme is Ledru Rollin. 



28 BUCHEZ AND 



Thus it happened under the monarchy, that, as there could 
not be political associations or clubs, the journal became the cen- 
tral point of parties and factions — the voice, the rendezvous, the 
government of the political sect. The journal was not a mere 
mercantile speculation, seeking to attract customers, and its 
writers obscure unknown men, drudging in the dark, or uttering 
mysterious oracles under the plural mask, but an active power, 
aspiring to rule and government. On this account the personality 
of the paper is, in France, as indispensable as is the personality 
of a political association in England. Men must know their 
leaders when they can call meetings and speak ; those leaders 
speak and have little need of personal displays in the press. As 
speeches fill the columns of papers, so leading articles diminish in 
importance. It was often remarked, that even Paris journals 
lost their influence when the Chambers met. A consideration 
of these circumstances may help to explain the abiding connection 
that has so long existed between French statesmen and the press. 
The journal being the only means through which a politician 
can make himself heard, every distinguished statesman begins his 
career by making himself heard through that channel without 
disguise, and never afterward separates himself from it, but, like 
a lecturer at the Sorbonne, transplanted to the Cabinet, continues 
to speak through a suppliant^ while his name figures on the 
sessional programme. 

M. Buchez, the happy colleague of M. Bastide, became the 
first President of the Assembly. His appearance was bluff and 
homely, but his natural indecision of conduct rendered him less 
able to grapple with the difficulties of keeping so democratic a 
body in order than he had perhaps conceived, or than his broad, 
plain physiognomy would have seemed to indicate. The unim- 
aginable turbulence of the early meetings of the Assembly used 
to bewilder him, and the nervous and unpremeditated way in 
which he would ring the large hand-bell with which he was 
furnished (and it was his only resource), used to render confusion 
more confounded. One day the tongue of the bell gave way in 
his efforts to restore order ; and that incident did more toward 
the desired effect, by creating a laugh, than his most elaborate 



OTHER OFFICERS ELECTED. 09 



efforts would have effected. As the Revolution had repeatedly 
been pronounced social rather than political, the nomination of 
M. Buchez, himself a sort of mystic Socialist, was calculated to 
give a certain degree of satisfaction to those who looked for social 
modifications in society ; while his well-known studious, religious, 
and humane character, took away the alarm with which those 
who viewed all classes of Socialists with fear and dread, might 
have regarded so important a nomination. 

The Vice-Presidents, Secretaries, and Quaesteurs, were chiefly 
taken from the more moderate Republican section, which, it is 
now unnecessary to repeat, means here the party represented by 
the National. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE MEMBERS OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT^ THEIR REPORTS 

^LAMARTINE PORTRAIT OF CREMIEUX OF LOUIS BLANC OF 

CARNOT. 

On Saturday, the 6t]i of May, after a considerable number of 
elections had been verified, the members of the Provisional 
Government proceeded each to render an account of his steward- 
ship. Owing to the extreme age of M. Dupont de I'Eure, the 
President of the Council, M. de Lamartine undertook to read 
what purported to be the general report of the head of the Gov- 
ernment. The style, however, betrayed the real author. Having 
described the Revolution as the act of the people, the orator pro- 
ceeded to state, that their first idea was to restore order in Paris ; 
in which work, that would have been difficult or meritorious in 
any other country, they had been aided by that magnanimous 
people, who, with the one hand having overturned Royalty, 
raised with the other the wounded and vanquished, protected the 
life and property of the inhabitants, and preserved the public 
monuments. Posterity, he said, which did not flatter, would not 
be able to find expression equal to the dignity of the people of 
Paris. It was the people who had inspired the first decree of 
the Provisional Government — the abolition of capital punishment 
for political ofienses. 

" France and Europe comprehended that God revealed his 
inspirations in the crowd, and that a Revolution, inaugurated by 
greatness of soul, would be pure as an idea, magnanimous as a 
sentiment, holy as a virtue." 

And this was said, notwithstanding that the Palais Royal had 
been sacked, its treasures of art destroyed ; that the post of muni- 
cipal guards of the Chateau d'Eau, opposite the Palais Royal, 
had been burned, and the sixty-five municipal guards roasted and 
suffocated ; that the Palace of Neuilly had been sacked and 
burned to the ground, and a mass of incendiaries, who had pol- 



DUPONT DE L'EURE'S REPORT. 31 

luted the bed-rooms of the Queen and Princesses, died, surfeited, 
in the cellars ; that the chateau of M. de Rothschild at Suresne, 
worth X50,000, had been wantonly destroyed ; and that attempts 
had been made to set the Tuileries on fire. 

"We have founded," said the orator, "the Republic; a form 
of Government declared to be impossible in France, on any other 
conditions than those of war abroad, civil war, anarchy, the 
prisons, and the scaffold. We have exhibited the Republic hap- 
pily compatible with European peace, with national peace, with 
voluntary order, with individual liberty, with the gentleness and 
serenity of manners of a nation in whose eyes hatred is a punish- 
ment, and harmony a natural instinct." 

This was said nine days only before the invasion of the Cham- 
ber, followed by the insurrection of June. Want of foresight 
may be pardonable ; but what follows ? 

" We have passed forty-five days without any other executive 
force than that of moral authority, entirely disarmed, but conde- 
scendingly recognized by the nation, and the people allowed itself 
to be governed by words, by our counsels, by its own generous 
inspiration." 

And this was gravely uttered, notwithstanding the two con- 
spiracies of the 17 th of March and the 16 th of April ; the first 
of which had failed through misconception, and the second baflled 
by the promptitude and energy of General Changarnier. Such 
statements read now most strangely, and show the magnitude of 
the delusion under which all labored at the moment when they 
were not only credited, but received with acclamation. 

The moment is not opportune for judging M. de Lamartine, 
yet we are not far from the fitting time ; for revolutions either 
stamp their men with the seal of immortal glory, or reject them 
rapidly : in the moments of a nation's crisis much time is not 
allowed for weighing and balancing doubtful merit. 

M. Ledru-Rollin succeeded M. de Lamartine, and for the 
present we shall confine ourselves to a brief review of the topics 
he addressed to his auditory. Having declared that he had 
always been a Republican, he proceeded at once to justify his 
having sent commissioners, armed with unlimited powers, into 



32 LEDRU-ROLLIN'S REPORT— CREMIEUX'S REPORT. 

the departments, for the purpose of inoculating the country with 
Republican ideas. This measure had fearfully damaged the 
Minister of the Interior, and he felt the necessity of explaining 
it as one of conciliation, and not as it had been regarded — a 
reminiscence of the Convention. He then took credit for his 
laborious administration, and appealed to his successful recon- 
struction of the national guards and the police, the creation of 
the garde mobile, and the organization of universal suffi-age, as 
affording the best replies to what he called the infamous calum- 
nies of which he had been the object. While he proclaimed his 
Republican principles, he yet avowed himself a lover of order, 
and took credit for having called out the national guard on the 
1 6th of April. In conclusion, he touched on the delicate ground 
of Socialism, saying that the Revolution should not be considered 
a barren conquest of political forms. These forms were but an 
instrument for realizing, in the social order, the dogma of equality 
and fraternity. 

The report of M. Ledru-RoUin, of which the foregoing is the 
substance, was read by that gentleman with excessive vehemence, 
and was received with unsympathizing coldness. 

The portly and rather prematurely corpulent M. Ledru-Rollin, 
who had succeeded the slim, graceful, and ideal form of Lamar- 
tine, was followed by the unprepossessing Cremieux (of Jewish 
birth). Minister of Justice, the very expression of an avocat, whose 
factitious warmth could rise with the amount of his fees, and on 
whose face and bearing the professional necessity of adulation to 
courts and juries had stamped an artificial honhommie, which, 
offspring of cunning, as it were, disarmed any disposition to hos- 
tility. The habit of seeking to exercise influence by look and 
voice does become influence eventually. With the easy assurance 
of one habituated to extemporaneous efflision, he quickly aban- 
doned his vioritten report, and in an unembarrassed, colloquial 
fashion, described the good deeds of his ministry. Now, these 
good deeds might be resolved into two that were very bad. He 
audaciously violated the principle of the permanency of judges, 
justly regarded, under well-regulated government, as the best 
security for their independence ; and he excited a ferment through- 



CREMIEUX'S EXORDIUM— LOUIS BLANC. 33 

out the length and breadth of the land, by an intimation of his 
intention to facilitate divorce. Apologizing for the first and main, 
branch of his administration regarding the magistracy, he dwelt 
upon the corruption of the monarchy, which had, he alleged, in- 
separably bound up politics with the administration of justice. 
Without stopping to inquire into the truth of his assertions, it 
must yet be said that, of all the audacious usurpations of the 
Provisional Government, anticipatory of rights belonging to the 
National Assembly, this violation of the magistracy was one of 
the most unjustifiable ; but for the moment it was allowed, like 
all the rest, to pass. It is right to notice, that M. Cremieux's 
exordium, like M. Ledru-Rollin's peroration, contained a Socialist 
flourish, for he described the first duty of the Republic to be the 
providing of the instruments of labor for all members of the com- 
munity ; another mode of expressing le droit du travail, the 
consequences involved in which were in all probability but little 
suspected by the avocat at the time, and only uttered because 
the Revolution had, at the very moment of its achievement, 
taken a Socialist form. It behoved the Minister of Justice to 
make profession of the new faith ; and he did so, like many a 
hasty convert at the sword's point, without understanding very 
clearly what he was about. 

The true hero of this day's scene, M. Louis Blanc, ascended 
the tribune next. The true hero, because the truly dangerous 
man. Figure to yourself a very small person — the very smallest 
you had ever seen above the species of the dwarf. With his 
back turned to you, you would be incHned to suppose that the 
glossy black hair and drooping shoulders belonged to a girl in 
male disguise ; the face turned round, you were struck by the 
prominent, clear, dark eyes, the olive complexion, and the dis- 
appearance of effeminacy in the strong jaw and chin. The gen- 
eral expression was rather melancholy. Had you heard of him 
only as the author of the " Histoire des Dix Ans," a book so 
polished and so piquant, of such lively narration, such sparkling 
antithesis, such finished portraiture, you would rather have be- 
lieved that you had a hero of the salons, than the president of 
the delegates of workmen — the evil genius of the Revolution. 



34 LOUIS BLANC'S '-'ORGANISATION DU TRAVAIL." 

The work which formed Louis Blanc's title to a seat at the table 
of the Provisional Government was probably, in the minds of 
Lamartine and Marrast, the elegant satire that had done so much 
to undermine and discredit Louis-Philippe and his family ; but 
the work which gave him credit in the eyes of the working 
classes, and on which he himself took his stand, was a brochure, 
unknown or forgotten by the republic of letters, on the organiza- 
tion of labor. 

It has been said that Louis Blanc possesses the sensuality and 
sensibility of the southern races, with a deep-seated pride that 
induces him rather to shrink from the society of gross men ; that 
he is touched with misanthropy, and little respects the masses 
whose champion he became. Such inconsistencies find their 
explanation in marked sensibility and deep-seated ambition. It 
is not the philosophical temperament ; and no man can be less 
a philosopher than the ardent apostle of a new society. The 
" Organisation du travail" is a true picture of the author's mind. 
His analysis of the composition of society, his painful statistics of 
beggary, prostitution, ill-regulated labor, of lives closed in hospitals 
— all this is in the most painfully fascinating style of narration ; the 
cry that rises from his pierced soul against society thrills through 
the reader ; — ^but there stops the part of the inquirer. 

When he comes to reconstruct that which he has knocked 
down, when he essays to remold the materials that lie molten 
in the furnace of his fiery indignation, the poverty of his invention 
becomes apparent ; he stops short, incapable of advancing into 
the pure regions of philosophic thought. He may invoke justice, 
but can not apply it. Tracing all the evils of society to one 
cause, only one cause, he proposes to eradicate them, although 
society should come tumbling down, by the removal of an essential 
part of its foundation. That one cause is competition, or con- 
currence. Competitors can never be fairly matched in society, 
because of the advantages inherently appertaining to capital : that 
is to say, the man who brings much money to the working of a 
factory or trade, must crush the rival who brings but little. A 
great quantity of money in the hands of a man, or company of 
men, secures for that man or company an actual monopoly. The 



HIS VIEW OF SOCIAL EVILS AND HIS REMEDY. 35 

laboring man, who has no money or capital, is placed by his 
necessities at the mercy of those who have ; so that slavery, 
although banished from modern society, exists in fact under a 
disguised form. According to this view, society is a system of 
strife and contest, in which the strong devour the weak, through 
a horrible competition, Avhich divides the whole into two classes ; 
the new aristocracy of finance, called bourgeoisie, and the 'prole- 
taires, whom they hold in serfage. 

As competition could not exist without capital, M. Louis Blanc 
would, if he could not destroy capital, at least neutralize its effect 
by making it the duty of the State to provide the working classes 
with the instruments of labor ; in other words, by making the 
State find capital through a popular system of credit. As, for 
example, instead of a factory being under the direction of a 
moneyed employer, it should be worked by the men, no longer 
the employes of another, but on their own personal account, the 
State supplying the means. But this is not all, for inasmuch 
as concurrence or competition would still exist, the State should 
interfere once more so to regulate prices, as that no one social 
establishment should outsell another, or be outsold by rival capit- 
alists. In aid of the general plan, he would oblige the working 
people to live together, mess together, amuse themselves together, 
have schools, infirmaries, and all necessary institutions attached 
to their several factories, on a perfect footing of equahty and 
fraternity, and contrive exchanges between one sort of manufac- 
tured articles and another, so as to make the social machine, in 
a great degree, work itself. 

Taking for granted that he had thus destroyed competition on 
the whole, the discovery is made that competition may yet exist 
individually ; for it would so happen, that in these new monasteries 
one man would be stronger than another, or be brighter or more 
ingenious ; would it be just that the share falling to the skillful 
or industrious should not be more than that claimed by the dull 
or the lazy ? To this objection the author boldly answers, by 
aflfirming perfect equality in wages, laying it down as an axiom, 
held generally by Communists, that each should be paid according 
to his wants, and not according to the quantity of his production. 



36 LOUIS BLANC'S APPEARANCE TN THE ASSEMBLY. 

But, it was asked, how could you force a man of strength and 
industry to put forth his powers, and weary himself with toil, 
when he would be deprived of the stimulus of reward, and see 
the indifferent as well remunerated as himself? This question 
was pressed hard upon M. Blanc at one of the meetings of Del- 
egates at the Luxembourg, and his answer betrayed a simplicity 
becoming a recluse, rather than a practical philosopher. He 
would, he said, have conspicuously inscribed on a placard that 
the " idler is a robber," le paresseux est un voleur. The whole 
plan, therefore, rested on two pillars — ^the State taking the place 
of the capitalist, and the most perfect individual honor of self- 
denial ; or upon human nature, different from what human nature 
has ever been known to be — upon human nature deprived of the 
natural stimulus to exercise its powers by the invention of reward. 
As the object is here to make an expository statement rather than 
an argument, the objections to this scheme are not fully noticed. 
They are, however, sufficiently apparent. 

When M. Louis Blanc made his appearance at the tribune of 
the National Assembly, it was not so much the author that fixed 
attention as the man of active, effective, pernicious influence. It 
was generally beheved that he had, by his doctrines, at the Lux- 
embourg, turned the heads of the working classes ; and he was 
strongly suspected of having been implicated in the conspiracy of 
April. He was looked upon as a dangerous fanatic, prepared to 
carry out his views at all hazards. Had a serpent reared its 
crest at the tribune, it could have hardly excited more fear and 
aversion, than did that juvenile-looking man, with shining, well- 
brushed hair, and fashionable blue coat, glittering with bright 
buttons, and for whose accommodation a stool had to be intro- 
duced, to raise him to a level with his audience. Material cir- 
cumstances influence even oratorical effects. French orators 
habitually employ much gesticulation ; but as it would not be 
safe to gesticulate upon a stool, the little man was constrained to 
preserve throughout the same stiff attitude. His voice was loud 
and clear, but monotonous ; so that the whole effect was that of 
a recitation of an exercise, learned by rote, and delivered by a 
youth at a public examination. Nor were encouraging friends 



HIS ADDRESS. 37 



wanting. A celebrated lady, of known Communist opinions, as 
remarkable for the brilliant beauty of her style, as the corrupting 
laxity of her sentiments, sat conspicuously in the front of the 
gallery, wearing broad red ribbons, as a sign of her sympathy 
with the Republique Rouge. There was something' of a provok- 
ing character in the well-assumed fierceness of tone and aspect, 
with which the orator faced the Assembly. Referring to the 
proclamation of the Republic, he told them that the people had 
proclaimed it before them ; and so far from seeking to win favor 
by deference or insinuation, he looked and spoke as if he held the 
force of the revolution in his small hand, and could, and would, 
let loose the destroying storm on the Assembly, should it not 
respond to popular expectation. 

The contrast between M. Ledru-Rollin and Louis Blanc, so 
far as personal appearance was concerned, was striking enough. 
But the burly appearance of the former — his frowns and threats, 
failed to indicate strength of purpose, or overbearing wiU.. Not 
so the latter. The slight person was one who could not be 
smiled at, for there was expressed subtlety, daring ambition, and 
imflinching determination. Of mingled French and Corsican 
blood, there stood before the Assembly a Communist-Bonaparte, 
ready to perpetrate another 18th Brumaire — ^to carry out the 
policy of a Robespierre. 

The address of Louis Blanc was a reproach. He began by 
referring to the demand made by the people on the Place de 
Greve, immediately after the Revolution of February, who, with 
the drapeau waving over their heads, on which was inscribed 
Organisatiofi du Travail, demanded the creation of a Ministere 
du Progrh — that was to say, an administration devoted to the 
study of the Labor Question ; or, in point of fact, an administra- 
tion charged with the task of carrying into execution Louis Blanc's 
own plans for the organization of labor, such as we have already 
sketched them from his book. But to return to the orator : he 
proceeded to say, that the Provisional Government, not feeling 
itself authorized to create a new administration — an act properly 
belonging to the National Assembly — decided upon appointing a 
Commission for the working classes, which should hold its sittings 



38 CITIZEN CARNOT— HIS EDUCATIONAL NOTIONS. 

at the Luxembourg, under the direction of his noble friend, the 
workman, Albert, and himself. He then summed up the diffi- 
culties they had to encounter in presence of men whose hopes had 
been so violently excited, and which they had no means of meet- 
ing ; but it became clear, through the hints he threw out, that 
the Assembly could not escape the promises that had been made 
to the working classes. Having glanced at the fraternal associa- 
tion of tailors that had been installed in the debtors' prison of the 
Rue de Clichy, and which was intended to be the practical com- 
mencement of the system prescribed in his work on the " Organ- 
isation du Travail" — an experiment that, by the way, proved a 
melancholy failure — the orator announced that the inquiries made 
at the Luxembourg, had for result, that the whole scheme which 
would be communicated to the Assembly, embracing industry, 
commerce, agriculture, colonies, and taxation, would be found to 
rest on two grand bases : Association, and the tutelary interven- 
tion of the State. This statement was received with marked 
coldness. The conclusion did not startle by its novelty, for it 
was precisely that of the " Organisation du Travail," the contents 
of which had already been read and judged. 

Citizen Carnot, Minister of Public Instruction, next rose. Gar- 
net, the son of the member of the Committee of Public Safety, 
the " Organizer of Victories," as he was called by Napoleon, bore 
a great republican name. He was a cold, ascetic-looking man, 
of a fair, pale complexion, and somewhat bald. M. Carnot read 
his Report in a shy, unpretending manner. Although his appear- 
ance was not calculated to excite suspicion of violence of temper- 
ament, or of extravagance of mind, yet there was a strong feeling 
of prejudice against him, founded upon an electioneering circular 
that he had addressed to the heads of colleges, and other educa- 
tional institutions, in which he broached the odd doctrine — com- 
ing from such a Minister, and to such men — that education did 
not necessarily qualify a man to be a representative of the people. 
To make the inconsistency more complex, he recommended the 
poor, ill-requited provincial Instituteur to stand as candidates. 
But the political object at which the Minister aimed, or seemed 
to aim, would have been equally accomplished in either case ; 



M. BETHMONT. 39 



for illiterate men, who could not make speeches, and who would 
become the submissive tools of ministers, and schoolmasters look- 
ing for promotion, who could not think of thwarting the Minister 
of Public Instruction, would have equally served the purpose of 
the party who were ambitious of governing the Republic. As if 
for the purpose of removing the evil effect of the circular in ques- 
tion, the Minister began by professing respect for the Clergy, and 
declared that he felt " strongly convinced in his conscience, that 
belief in God is the very principle of all serious faith in the 
grandeur of human destiny." He then struck out a plan of 
reform, such as he conceived became necessary to put education 
in harmony with Republican Institutions ; for he considered, that 
as the offices of the State should henceforward be thrown open to 
all classes of the people without reserve, so should all be instructed 
in a manner to fit them for public employments. Education 
should, according to the principles involved in this scheme, assume 
a political form, and political instruction be made to predominate 
in academic teaching. 

The Minister of Agriculture and Commerce next read his 
Report ; but as M. Bethmont resigned very soon after, on account 
of ill-health, there is no necessity for noticing a gentleman, whose 
brief career has left no trace ; the more especially as his Report 
opened no great question of speculation or practice. It was con- 
fined and technical. 

With that Report, terminated the proceedings of the day. 



CHAPTER IV. 

GARNIER PAGES ARAGO MARIE, THE REAL AUTHOR OP THE 

NATIONAL ATELIERS LAMARTINE— BERANGER ^A PARLIAMENT- 
ARY HURRICANE THE "MOUNTAIN" AND BARBES THE HISTORY 

OF THE CONSPIRATORS THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DE- 
CLARED TO HAVE MERITED WELL OF THEIR COUNTRY. 

The adjourned meeting of the National Assembly on Monday, 
the 8th of May, proved highly interesting and curious. It 
became the turn of M. Garnier Pages, the Finance Minister of 
the Provisional Government, to tell what feats he had performed. 
This M. Garnier Pages had been an agent de change or broker, 
who on the death of his brother, a republican member of some 
celebrity, was elected his successor to the vacant seat. He is a 
tall, thin, and somewhat sickly-looking man, with small yet 
clumsy features, a little pert, and yet a little prim, while his 
sleek hair falling in curls to the nape of the neck, gives to the 
whole physiognomy a fantastic expression. He is what he looks, 
presumptuous and shallow, and yet not morose nor unkind. A 
man who would not cause individual ruin, but not a man to save 
a state. His address was very long, very elaborate, and cast into 
divisions or chapters, with appropriate headings in a business-like 
fashion. 

He labored to prove, that the systematic corruption of the 
monarchy was conducting the country to an abyss, from which 
it had been saved by the Republic. The preceding speakers 
had taken a m.ore or less socialist view of the Revolution ; but 
M. Garnier Pages saw in it merely a reaction against corruption. 
It was thus that he became the expression of the Republique 
onoderee et honnete. He opposed successfully the scheme of M. 
Ledru-RoUin for a return to assignats, because he could not 
see any deeper change effected by the Republic, than a departure 
from corrupt practices. So little derangement did he contem- 
plate, that he ventured to make a financial statement with the 



FRANCOIS ARAGO'S REPORT. 41 

calm, satisfied air of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, in times the 
most untroubled ; and showed that, at the end of the year 1848, 
a year to be marked apart in the great chronicle of the world's 
history, there would be a very respectable surplus of some eleven 
millions of francs in the national treasury. No one A'-entured to 
probe this statement, to ask questions, or to throw out doubts ; 
and although it was not possible that such a statement could 
have been swallowed, yet it was allowed to pass, for the apparent 
reason, that any soothing mystification was welcome ; and proof 
was soon afibrded, by the votes that placed this gentleman in the 
Executive Commission, that optimism at such a moment was the 
best of parliamentary virtues. 

After M. Garnier Pages, there ascended the tribune a man in 
all respects his opposite, the venerable Fran9ois Arago, who 
detailed what he had done as Minister of War and Minister of 
Marine, to place the forces of the country in a position to meet 
the eventuahties that might arise out of the general state of per- 
turbation into which Europe had been thrown. The account, 
so far as related to the army, was formidable enough ; but that 
which was left out of consideration was, after all, the serious 
point — viz., the heavy military burthen w^hich the country had 
incurred rendered nugatory the fine fl.ourishes in which the 
Finance Minister had just been indulging. A country thrown 
into such a state as France had been, with commerce arrested, 
trade stopped, enterprise paralyzed, and industry languishing, 
without credit abroad or confidence at home, might feel happy 
in regarding the aspect of her military strength ; but on reflec- 
tion must have discovered that the test was ruinous. We have, 
however, more to do with th« speaker than wdth the subject. 
Francois Arago is a fine, stalwart old man, tall, dark, and 
sinewy ; his head is magnificent, and when he is seated by other 
men, its vast size strikes with astonishment amounting to awe. 
Standing alone, this great development of head is not so remark- 
able, because it is symmetrical, for no object of fine symmetry 
ever strikes the eye as disproportioned ; this noble dome is fur- 
nished with thin hair, once jetty black, and not yet gray ; the 
large eye is bold and thoughtful ; the features massive and well 



FRANCOIS ARAGO. 



shaped, and altogether Arago looks a man of iron frame and 
great intellectual power. 

His history is full of mistakes, as must ever be that of a man 
marked out so unmistakably by Providence for one great object 
— and that object the interpretation of the mysteries of Nature's 
m.ost sublime work — -who must needs turn aside to bend his knee 
to the pitiful idols of human passion or folly. Why should an 
Arago desert the Observatory for the Chamber ? Why leave 
the telescope for the lorgnette, through which to read the myste- 
ries of the ministerial benches. Nature denied him the gift of 
speech. He who could plunge into the infinity of space, and 
take his pupils along with him, was forbidden the tribune. Sci- 
entific eloquence sank into dribbling political bavardage. The 
whole of Arago's political life, had only served to make him a 
great prize for a pack of revolutionists, whom he soon learned to 
despise. Any one who doubted that his eyes had been opened, 
as by a great shock, needed only to look at his dejected aspect. 
What an inheritance had he not, we will not say sold, but periled 
for a mess of potage ? Only think of this sage being obliged to 
plead his gray hairs to Louis Blanc, and implore that the latter 
would not expose, as he was doing by his conduct at the Hotel- 
de-Ville, his throat to the knife of the mob ; and yet there was 
not a particle of cowardice in that energetic soul. When we 
hear of some bold act done at a critical moment by the Govern- 
ment, be sure that it was inspired by Arago. More than once 
has he taken a ruffian mob leader by the collar, and paralyzed, 
his wicked intentions. At the H6tel-de-Ville he announced his 
readiness to descend into the street, and do battle with the Red 
Republic. He was the first member of the Government to 
mount the barricades in June. When a young m.an he was 
made prisoner by Barbary corsairs, while engaged on a scientific 
expedition, a romantic adventure full of peril, which probably 
endeared many a forgotten romance to his memory, for before 
the age of Edgeworth and Scott, the Barbary corsair was the 
great resource of all romancers in difficulty. This event, may- 
hap, gave him that mingled love of action and science, such as 
might seize a surgeon who had assisted at a campaign. It was 



ATELIERS NATIONAUX. 43 

not fortunate for his fame. Whenever Arago thought to aid a 
party move, he covered himself with as much unenviable wonder 
as did Newton, when he wrote commentaries on the book of 
Daniel. On the fortifications-of-Paris question, Arago not only 
gave to the cannons of the surrounding forts an impossible range, 
but he filled the trenches with water from impossible sources, 
and destroyed the advanced works of an enemy with showers of 
small rain ; such freaks and more could be forgiven a man like 
Arago ; and if his name served, in the first instance, to give lus- 
ter and power to a mob-made Provisional Government, his prompt 
disdain, and deep mournful condemnation served subsequently the 
cause of order, by the influence of his great example — that order 
for which, he olDserved, that he could offer himself a martyr. 
May the close of his life be devoted to science, and be as glorious 
as untroubled I 

M. Marie, the Minister of Public Works, came next. This 
gentleman it was who had organized the Ateliers Natiojiaicx, 
which furnished the insurgent soldiers of June, and not Louis 
Blanc, as has been erroneously supposed. The national work- 
shops were a necessity of the times, and not the commencement 
of a commimist plan. The Revolution had, as an inevitable 
consequence, caused a temporary stoppage of works of all kinds. 
Commerce was struck with paralysis, trade had ceased, the mills 
stopped, and ordinary business came to a stand still. The work 
people were thrown out of employment in thousands, and as they 
must be fed, and it would be an mdignity to offer them charity, 
it became necessary to find employment. As the State was not 
prepared to order watches from watchmakers, rings, and chains, 
and necklaces, and bracelets from jewelers, as it could in fact 
only set men to dig, all the work-people were furnished with 
spades, pick-axes and wheel-barrows. It would be cruel to task 
household servants, working jewelers, or those whose soft hands 
would bleed at such toil, and if persisted in be rendered unfitted 
for their former avocations ; the inspector, therefore, winked at 
idleness ; the example of tolerated idleness became infectious, the 
workmen passing their day in talking, joking, amusing themselves, 
and discussing licentious papers, found life so agreeable, that even 



44 MARIE. 

when private employment offered, they would not take it. The 
very form of organization of these Ateliers was vicious. It was 
military. The men were assembled in brigades and companies 
under officers. They marched to work preceded by banners, and 
having passed the day in the manner described, they proved in 
the evening how much their imaginations had been affected by 
the militaiy regime, for they spent the long summer evening at 
ball practice, and when this pleasing occupation was over, the 
pensioned Sybarites would club together and return home in 
carriages. The head-quarters, or etat-major of this army of 
travailleurs set the example of licentiousness ; so that the city 
of Paris had to witness the dangerous spectacle of a surrounding 
army of idling people, pensioned by the State, learning ball prac- 
tice and drill, with the certainty that there were active dem- 
agogues and agents of revolt among them, preparing for an 
invasion as perilous as that of the barbarians who destroyed 
E/Ome. 

M. Marie was not blind to these dangers. Having drawn a 
picture of the sufferings of the working classes, and of the insuffi- 
ciency of the Mairies to afford relief, he mentioned that the idea 
of employing all on some common work, gave rise to the National 
Ateliers. <• I know," said he, " the objections that are raised 
against them ; that considerable sums of money are swallowed up 
without profit, that the workman is acquiring injurious habits ;" 
but on the other hand, he "knew the quantity of misery that 
had been relieved. Still he did not deceive himself: it was no 
longer Ateliers, but an army of workmen that had grown up, 
yet it was an army that, enjoying all the rights of citizens, 
universal suffrage, and membership of the National Guard— was 
political, resigned, and friendly to order. Ateliers had also been 
opened for women, and worked well." 

M. Marie was a distinguished advocate, who had been fre- 
quently employed by the National newspaper, to defend it against 
Crown prosecutions for libel. It was to his successful speeches 
on these occasions, that he owed his rude and loose election, on 
the 24th of February, to be one of the Provisional Government. 
The line of defense that he used to take for the Natiotial, on 



LAMARTINE. 45 



trial for libel, was as singular as efficacious. He would make 
copious quotations from the most vigorous opposition speeches, 
delivered at times of the greatest party heat, in the British 
House of Commons, and reproduced with added bitterness of 
commentary in the British Press. He would take the trials for 
hbel in British Courts of Justice : show how great was the li- 
cence allowed by constitutional lawyers and judges ; dwell on 
the love of liberty that signalized Englishmen, show how their 
respect for law had been increased by freedom in expression of 
opinion, and challenge French jurymen to mark that they were 
not less lovers of such liberty than their Saxon neighbors. As 
it was generally the case, that the incriminated articles looked 
pale by the side of M. Marie's judicious specimens of blunt 
speech, the jury would feel themselves piqued into acquittal. 

This gentleman's manner and appearance are more English 
than French. He has a fine bald head with a copious fringe of 
curly, sandy hair, the only approach to the golden lock in an 
Assembly, which can not boast one red head. His features are 
blunt and bold, but nevertheless refined. His dress is always 
neat, and his high white neckcloth raises his chin in a stiff quak- 
erly fashion. His action is free from the redundant gesticulation, 
so much indulged in by French orators ; and he looks what he 
is, a firm, intelligent gentleman. 

We have now before us M. de Lamartine going to speak in 
his own name, or rather to read ; and as regards M. de Lamar- 
tine, the distinction is worth making. When this gentleman 
puts on a pair of little black spectacles, and droops his shoulders, 
with which expressive action he is forced to read, he is an old 
man. While delivering an harangue with his shoulders thrown 
back, his arm extended, his graceful figure like marble set on its 
socle, liis voice of trumpet-Uke sonorousness vibrating through 
the ears of his audience, he is ever young. The written address 
was very fine ; but so necessary is it to captivate attention by 
appropriate action, that yielding to his own weariness as much 
as to the flagging attention of the Assembly, he skipped over 
considerable portions of his review of the foreign policy of the 
Government, throwing out comfortable assurances that all would 



46 FRENCH PROPAGANDISM. 

be found next day in the Moniteur. His description of that 
pohcy amounted to a grand, and, if true, sublime self-abnegation 
on the part of France, which renounced all ideas of territorial 
ao"OTandizement, yet incurred the incumbrance of an armed di- 
plomacy for the pure purpose of countenancing the efforts of the 
democratic idea in other countries. That attitude alone had 
produced all the consequences of armed interference, and it was, 
he said, for the first time in history, that a principle disarmed 
and purely spiritual, presented itself to Europe, organized, armed, 
and allied for a different principle, and that the political world 
became shaken and modified of itself, before the power, not of a 
nation, but of an idea. The vagueness of M. de Lamartine's 
diplomatic circular was reproduced in his speech ; and for this 
vagueness he has been much blamed. An English statesman, 
patriot, or demagogue thinks of England ; a German thinks of 
Fatherland ; an Italian of Italy ; but a Frenchman thinks of 
all the world. As soon as the Hevolution of February took 
place, there was hardly a Frenchman who did not declare war 
to be unavoidable ; not that the least apprehension was felt 
on the score of invasion by a coalition, but because France 
would feel herself bound, according to her own code of honor, 
to carry her Koran in one hand, and her sword in the other, 
that all people might taste of the doctrinal blessings of liberty, 
equality, and fraternity, and all Kings and Rulers, who would 
stand in the way, be smitten to the earth for the glory of the 
Gaul. 

In respect of what M. de Lamartine calls " ideas," a term 
significant enough to the minds of his countrymen, the French 
are at once Quixotic and intolerant. A Communist, a Socialist, 
or political discoverer of any kind, as soon as he has persuaded 
himself that his Utopia is realizable, thinks that he is justified 
in taking gun and sword, and carrying his views into execution 
by force. What poHtical sects think and feel with regard to 
their own ideas, the whole nation felt as regarded their revolu- 
tion, in relation to neighboring states. When M. de Lamartine, 
therefore, preached that the Revolution would, by its own in- 
herent beauty, attract worshipers from all countries, and force 



ATTITUDE OF FRANCE. 47 

its way morally, he was doing service to the cause of humanity 
and peace, for which the rest of the world has not given him 
sufficient credit. 

It would not do for M. de Lamartine to talk like an EngHsh- 
man or a German, for, in order to acquire influence over his 
countrymen, he must not merely speak as they speak, but he 
must think and feel as they do. It is not by breaking with his 
countrymen upon an idea which has taken strong hold of their 
minds, that he could retain an ascendency, but by presenting 
the same idea in a new and more beautiful light, and advancing 
it further than it had ever been advanced before. 

Had it not been for M. de Lamartine, there would not have 
been presented a fascinating and elevating lure from the vulgar, 
and yet all-captivating project of a double invasion of Italy and 
Germany ; nor could he break altogether from a prospect which 
he perhaps abhorred ; and so, while he spoke of the moral effects 
produced by the Revolution, and drew a dazzling panorama of 
the happily infectious march of the principles of February 
through all the realms of Italy — through all the various prov- 
inces of the Austrian empire — and through the old states of the 
Germanic confederation ; while he showed ideas, bearing the 
name of France, invading the greater portion of Europe, he yet 
painted this same France as animated at once by a democratic 
and sympathetic principle, with one hand upon the rights of the 
people, and the other upon what he called " the inaggressive 
faisceau of four armies of observation, regarding this movement 
of the continent, without ambition as without weakness, ready 
to negotiate or combat, according as her right, her honor, or the 
security of her frontiers might demand." 

Here again he touched upon a delicate subject in speaking of 
the frontiers of France — those frontiers that had been narrowed 
as the Empire crumbled, until, in 1814, there was no frontier 
but what had been traditionally regarded as such, and which, in 
1815, had been narrowed, so as to hurt pride and inflict humili- 
ation. M. de Lamartine had laid it down that the treaties 
of 1815 had been canceled. Then there should be war? 
No, not at all : — ^there should be patient negotiation, based on 



48 LAMARTINE'S IDEAL REVOLUTION. 



right and justice ; but in the mean time, there was this enno- 
bling consolation : 

" Her frontiers ! I use a word that has lost a portion of its 
signification. Under the Republic, it is the democratic and fra- 
ternal principle that becomes the veritable frontier of France. 
(Applause.) It is not her soil that extends — it is her influence 
— it is her sphere of radiance and of attraction upon the conti- 
nent—it is the number of her natural allies— -it is the disin- 
terested and intellectual patronage that she shall exercise upon 
the people — it is the French system, in fine, that has been sub- 
stituted in three days, and in three months, for the system of 
the holy alliance. The Republic has comprehended, from the 
first moment, the new pohcy that the philosophy, the humanity, 
the reason of the age ought to inaugurate by the hands of our 
country among nations. I would ask no more proof that de- 
raiocracy has had her divine inspiration, and that she shall tri- 
umph in Europe as rapidly and gloriously as she has triumphed 
in Paris. France will have changed the character of her glory 
— voila tout .'" 

Such was the glorious ideal that the poet, orator, statesman, 
had figured to himself If he did not believe in it himself, it 
should be regarded as the nicest and most perfect piece of subtle 
tact ever presented to a people. All the attractions that war 
ever had were stripped for the embellishment of peace. The 
latent craving was still gratified by the aspect of the sword glit- 
tering in the light of law. Those who worshiped glory were 
still invited to the shrine, there to find unvailed a new divinity 
of hitherto uncomprehended beauty. Alas ! the poet was too 
credulous ; the prophet, as usual, was to end in the martyr ; the 
sweet words that enchanted the ear, and shed harmony over the 
soul, could not transform the deep corruptions that were but 
stilled, not subdued into holy desires and lofty sentiments. Yet 
the good that was done by M. de Laraartine ought never to be 
forgotten. He flung golden balls in the path of the impetuous 
racers to the armory of war ; and if the trivial, but somewhat 
familiar metaphor might be used for sake of more perfect com- 
prehension of meaning, we would say that never was such " a 



BERANGER. i:) 



tub thrown the "whale" to amuse and distract the dangerous 
monster, and give time for security, as was that magnificent 
scheme of policy, traced in such luminous language by the great- 
est master of phraseology of our times. 

Although the statement of M. de Lamartine had the disad- 
vantage of being read, it yet produced a great effect. The ven- 
erable Dupont de I'Eure rose from his seat and embraced him 
like a son, amid general expressions of admiration. Lamartine 
was at that moment at the apogee of his Repubhcan fame ; but, 
instead of the Assembly being allowed to retire impressed with 
his rich diction, it was to happen that they were to part affected, 
perhaps afflicted, by one of those vulgar storms that became after- 
ward of too frequent recurrence. 

We must pause to notice an incident that found its place be- 
tween the oration and the storm. The President amiounced that 
he had received a letter from the citizen Beranger, which he had 
no doubt would afflict them. He resigned his seat, on the 
ground that neither his meditations nor his studies had fitted him 
for the part of representative. The Assembly refused to accept 
the poet's resignation, which, however, even such a mark of 
esteem could not induce him to withdraw. Some thought that 
the privileged old man had been coquetting ; yet, to those who 
had watched him, his resolution was evidently sincere. Beranger 
was not in his place in such a crowd : as he said himself, he was 
never at home except when chatting with a few friends. There 
was something exceedingly winning in the aspect of Beranger. 
He dresses in a plain, homely fashion. His head was a fine 
bald one. His eyes (and it was a pity) were hidden by large 
green goggles, from under which peeped a glowing, funny little 
nose, that well became a smiling, gracious mouth, beaming with 
kindliness and pleasant humor. Why should a mouth, overflow- 
ing with mellifluous good things, turn, after half a century of 
song, to political haranguing ? ]t would not do, and Beranger 
felt it would not do ; and he wisely took liimself to his own little 
snug temple, identified with fancies, and dreams, and visitings 
from creatures very shy and reserved in their favors. Yet how 
the old man was sought after and listened to, and how restlessly 

C 



50 DORNES' PROPOSAL. 



he would turn on liis seat, and quit it, to seek Lamennais or 
some other old friend, with whom to whisper in a corner, until at 
length he slipped away, and would not return I 

It is M. Domes who is in possession of the tribune — M. Domes, 
destined to fall, a few weeks after, in the Insurrection of June. 
He lauded the addresses that had been heard : so far so well. 
He moved that those who read them had, by their conduct, de- 
served Avell of their country : nothing better ; the cheers were 
unanimous. He thought that the sovereignty of the Assembly 
should be exercised through a delegation of five members, forming 
an executive Commission of Government, until such time as the 
Constitution should be formed. There was no sign of opposi- 
tion ; but when he proceeded to give the names of the five whom 
he undertook to propose, there was a burst of disapprobation. 
" Let me read the names." " No, no." ■' No names." " They 
are, Lamartine, Francis Arago." (" No names ! no names I") 
'' Ledru RoUin, Gamier Pages, and Marie." — (Shouts of disap- 
probation.) The President himself could not obtain a moment's 
attention. At length the aged Dupont de I'Eure succeeded in 
getting a little silence, when he gently reproved his friend, M. 
Domes, for compromising names. M. Domes felt nettled, and 
attemipted to assert the parliamentary propriety of his conduct. 
He declared that the liberty of the tribune had been infringed 
upon : the noise and confusion became tremendous. M. Domes 
was about to leave the tribune, when other members, tempted 
by the promised vacancy, rushed to get possession of the place as 
soon as it should be unoccupied. His friends shouted to him to 
keep his ground. One cried out that the liberty of the tribune 
had been violated ; another, that the question had been badly 
put. The President essayed in vain to induce a moment's 
attention, until he should put the question, whether the names 
would be heard or not. At length he saw that the only way to 
stop the clamor was to put on his hat — the sign that the meeting 
was suspended. The last frail hold on order seemed then to 
have given way. The members, as by a common impulse, rose 
from their seats, and rushed headlong to the floor of the house, 
vociferating all together. The wildest mob could not have exhib- 



BARBES. 51 

ited more ungovernable want of temper. The manners of the 
demagogical clubs, and of the streets, were fully represented in 
that universal-suffrage-elected assembly. It was an ill-omened 
and menacing scene. After a suspension of half an hour, M. 
Domes again spoke. He said that he would not propose names, 
but would move his decree, that the members of the Provisional 
Government had deserved well of their country, and that they be 
replaced by an executive commission of five members. All seemed 
then plain sailing ; but, no — there was yet to be discord. The 
boiling was over, but the bitterness was to come. From the 
highest bench of the extreme left, which had already been called 
"the Mountain," in imitation of the language of the Convention, 
there descended Barbes, the idol of the ultra-revolutionary clubs. 
Barbes had taken a leading part in the emeiite of May, 1839, 
an emeute which might have been a revolution. There had 
been a long ministerial crisis ; the executive was embarrassed 
and weak, the National Guards apathetic and discontented, and 
the secret societies well organized. The Revolutionists hoped to 
succeed ; but, after an ill-combined efibrt, they failed ; and Barbes, 
one of the ringleaders, was arrested. 

The main charge against him destroyed the romance of the 
political conspirator : it was a cold-blooded assassination. He 
had driven up to a military post in the cite, in a cabriolet, with 
a brother conspirator, hoping to effect a hardy cowp-de-inain, by 
frightening the officer in command into a surrender. While par- 
leying with the officer, and on his refusal to surrender, Barbes 
drew a pistol and shot him. Such a dastardly act destroyed all 
sympathy in his fate. He himself became ashamed of it, and 
pleaded that the murder had been committed by his companion, 
who lell, subsequently, in the combat. He was found guilty by 
the Chamber of Peers, and condenaned to death. His sister, who 
loved him dearly, was the means of saving his life. She obtained 
an interview with the King, and so wrought on the feelings of 
the Monarch that, although it was resolved at a Cabinet Council, 
to resist all recommendation to mercy, his Majesty declared "that 
having suffered his hand to be bathed by the tears of the man's 
sister, he could not sign his death-warrant." The sentence was 



52 BARBES. 

commuted to imprisonment in the Luxembourg, and tlie convict 
was so touched with the King's clemency, that he declared his 
political career to be forever over. His own account is, that in 
his cell he offered up his orisons to Saint Robespierre, Saint 
Couthon, and Saint Just. 

The Revolution of February freed Barbes, and the Provisional 
Government, with that studied love of effect which characterized 
so many of their actions, created the prisoner of the Luxembourg 
the Governor of the Palace, from which had already been expelled 
the Peers who had tried and condemned him. A more startling 
freak, in the way of poetic justice, was to strike the citizens of 
Paris. The National Guards of the 12th arrondissement, com- 
posed now of all classes, of one of the poorest and most populous 
divisions of the city, elected Barbes for their Colonel I Thus 
was this victim of the tyranny of the Monarchy, invested with 
rank and honor, and, as it may be called, military power, and 
subsequently elected to a seat in the National Assembly. 

He looked, as he impetuously ascended the tribune, Hke a man 
whose head could easily have been turned. Report says that he 
was once a handsome man. He did not now look very prepos- 
sessing. His figure was light and active, and he might be con- 
sidered within forty years ; but his face had that peculiarly pallid 
color, produced by long close confinement — the color of the cold 
wall, with that banishment of open cheerfulness, replaced by a 
dark brooding over his position, such as can not fail of producing 
a repulsive effect. His forehead was high, but narrow, and 
somewhat bald. His speech was rapid and thick, as if he gargled 
his words in his throat, and sounded like vulgar scolding. 

This Barbes made his debut by demanding an explanation of 
what he called the massacres of Rouen ; and he, a Colonel of 
National Guards, allowed plainly enough to be seen, what might 
have been expected from him in case of a collision, as he con- 
tinued : " Yes, in the name of the people, we have to demand 
from the Government an account of the murders committed on 
the people of Rouen, by the National Guards." This speech 
was interrupted by exclamations from all sides ; but the orator 
continued to say, that the people would furthermore have to 



CLOSE OF THE SITTING. 53 

demand an account, why their German, PoHsh, Itahan, and 
Belgian brethren had been abandoned ? and when all these 
accounts were settled, it would be time enough to talk of thank- 
ing the Provisional Government. 

M. Senard, member for Rouen, vindicated, in a warm speech, 
the conduct of the National Guards at Rouen. The Minister 
of Justice showed that the Government had done all that was 
proper. After some confused conversation, the vote that the 
Provisional Government had merited well of their country, was 
carried by acclamation. The question regarding the formation 
of an intermediate executive power, was agreed to be referred to 
a Committee, and the Assembly adjourned to the following day. 



CHAPTER V. 

M. PEUPIN, OUVRIER ^WORKMEN IN THE ASSEMBLY M. l'hERBETTE 

THE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES OF HIS ACCUSATION AGAINST THE 

EX-KING REGARDING THE FORESTS OF THE STATE CORMENIN 

POWER OF THE PAMPHLET ^BAC JULES FAVRE FATHER LA- 

CORDAIRE ODILON BARROT ON THE PARLIAMENTARY STORM 

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE FORMED. 

The Committee that had been appointed to consider what 
would be the best form of intermediate Executive Government, 
confided the preparation and presentation of its Report to a 
working mechanic, M. Peupin, by trade a watchmaker. Thus, 
the first act of the National Assembly fell into the hands of a 
working man ; and the first Parliamentary debate was led by a 
member of the ouvrier class. 

Notwithstanding that the General Election had been by Uni- 
versal Suffrage, that the Revolution had been pronounced the 
working man's revolution, that the operatives were bidden to the 
Parliamentary Feast, for the first time, and that the tempting 
allowance of twenty-five francs a day, was ordained on the 
Democratic principle of paying the legislator a fair day's wages 
for a fair day's work, so that no man should be obliged to decline 
the favor of his fellow-citizens on the score of want of fortune, it 
yet happened that very few operatives were returned. 

M. Peupin proved himself worthy of the choice of his fellow- 
citizens, by his gentlemanlike demeanor, his easy address, and 
intelligence. His report concluded in favor of a choice of Min- 
isters directly by the Assembly ; and, at the first blush, the 
proposition to hold all power, executive and legislative, was 
wonderfully pleasing to a new body, the more jealous of its 
rights, because they were undefined, unsettled, uncertain, and 
almost beyond the power of being ascertained. 

Curiously enough, a proposition that seemed so thoroughly 
Democratic, and which was conceived in so Democratic a spirit 



TENDENCIES OF THE ASSEMBLY. 55 



— for it implied that the sovereignty being in the nation itself, 
should only be exercised by the Assembly, the delegates of the 
universal people, and not confided to any power that might be 
tainted w^ith the image of royalty, or exploded constitutionalism, 
with its division of power, and checks, and balances — this prop- 
osition was destined to be combated by the revolutionists, and 
supported by ex-members of the dynastic opposition of the old 
Chamber of Deputies : M. L'Herbette, and M. Odilon Barrot, 
took the aiErmative, and M. Jules Favre, and M. de Lamartine, 
the negative. 

Our object is not to dwell more on speeches and debates than 
will serve our leading purpose, which is to mark the tendencies 
and dispositions of the new Assembly, to show how the new men 
acted, and how the old were received, to mark the hopes, senti- 
ments or designs of the former, and how far they were responded 
to by the latter, to observe the turbulent fermentation of ill-assorted 
elements, and their reduction to order, as much by dangerous 
menaces from without, as from internal influences — those influ- 
ences being the chief object of our classification and care — to 
paint, in fact, a wildly disposed Assembly, sobered by degrees at 
the sight of the sword that was brandished in its face by a still 
wilder deniagogie. 

We have just had occasion to notice the excessive susceptibility 
regarding its own omnipotent power, manifested by the Assembly 
in the very report presented by Citizen Peupin ; as we proceed, 
we shall see the jealousy marked by the extravagant and fantastic 
awkwardness of 'parvenu?., when their suddenly-acquired rights 
were not recognized, or were made the subject of satirical smiles, 
or ominous suspicions that perad venture they could not hold them 
long. 

We have m the second place to notice that in order to quiet 
and keep down sensations not easily mastered, all parties made 
the most desperate professions of fraternal conciliation ; the very 
word " party" was reproved, and the assumption asserted that the 
purest patriotic Republicanism being the sole directing power of 
the many-voiced machine, its separate discords, like the various 
sounds of nature, or of a crowd heard from a distance, woukl 



56 L'HERBETTE— CORRUPTION AND CRIME. 

"blend into an imposing effect. The intentions were good ; we 
shall see how they were carried out in practice. We pass by 
those devoid of any particular characteristic to come to M. 
L'Herhette. 

M. L'Herbette is a gentleman of large fortune, who in the old 
Chamber of Deputies sat on the opposition side — although not so 
far left as to be entitled to the honor of being a Republicain cle 
la veille — and derived a share of that spurious sort of fame, called 
notoriety, by having preferred against Louis-Philippe, or in the 
then more constitutional jargon, the liste civile, the dishonoring 
accusation of purloining from the State forests, more timber than 
he was by law privileged to take. The accuser cited the various 
State forests of Villar-Coterets, Compiegne, Fontainebleau, &c., 
and he declared, that so extensive were the depredations commit- 
ted, that in some places, the aspect was as if a hostile invasion 
had ravaged the ground. 

Charges so circumstantial and distinct coming from a member 
of the legislature, a man of mature age, and of the weight that 
fortune seldom fails to bestow, produced a deep impression. True 
it is, that the Count de Montalivet, Intendant of the Civil List, 
answered the charges, and showed that a misapprehension had 
arisen from changing the old French mode of thinning forests, for 
that of the German method, which consisted of making clear- 
ances ; but it is equally true that at the time of this unfortunate 
controversy, which was the year preceding the fate of the mon- 
archy, a strong prejudice had been raised against the upper classes 
of society, by an exposure of a series of crimes — some of the deep- 
est turpitude, from, peculation and corruption by ministers of state 
and men of fortune to the last crowning deed — the murder of the 
Duchess of Praslin by her husband ; so that it was no longer 
possible to interpose the barrier of the loftiest rank to the voice 
of calumny ; and the conviction became general that all classes 
of people, the highest and the lowest, were confounded in a com- 
mon and general corruption. The charge against the King was 
fatally timed. It was but too generally accepted, and with the 
hastiness of prejudice, it was concluded that the corruption and 
viciousness, the prevalence of which was proved in Courts of 



CORMENIN. 5-/ 



Justice, had their source iu Royalty itself. It was affirmed that 
corruption had been reduced to a political system, and that those 
who directed the machinery, did a little business on their own 
account, M. de Montalivet not only afforded the requisite tech- 
nical explanations, but he showed, what was perfectly true, that 
the king so far from having a griping, had a bountiful hand ; that 
he expended not merely the surplus of the allowances of the Civil 
List, but drained his private resources in the restoration and 
adornments of public monuments. That he gave Versailles and 
Fontainebleau to the people ; and that his memory would be 
associated with museums, libraries, temples, and cities. This 
was all true ; nevertheless the accusation worked its poisonous 
way, and it may be truly said that all the attacks of the news- 
paper press put together did not produce the fatal effect of M. 
LHerbette's parliamentary Philippe-ics. 

As I have the Vicomte de Cormenin in my eye, the man who 
gave the first blow of a similar kind to the monarchy of July, I 
may be allowed to say a word of him, especially as his total 
absence from the tribune will prevent any opportunity of sketch- 
ing his oratorical physiognomy. The fall of the Soult ministry 
in 1840, which paved the way to Thiers, and led to the breach 
of the English alliance on the Eastern question, was caused by 
the rejection of the dotation demanded for the Due de Nemours ; 
the author of the rejection of that dotation was undoubtedly M. 
de Cormenin, better known under his pamphleteering name of 
Timon. The pamphlet has been for ages in France a most 
effective weapon in the hands of whoever can wield it well. It 
requires very peculiar talents for its exercise, so much so indeed 
that the men of genius in that way may be counted on one's fin- 
gers, as you do the names of great poets, or of any other true 
greatness. Timon is the pamphleteer of this day, as Paul Louis 
Courier was the pamphleteer of the Restoration. Voltaire it was 
who swept the ground with this fire of raillery, satire, sarcasm, 
and pungent common-sense reasoning ; that blending of seething 
fire and hard substance, scalding irony and racy playfulness, with 
knowledge of mankind and their affairs, and withal solid logic, 
which make up the pamphlet, as it is nianaged and understood 



58 L'HERBETTE'S PROPOSITION. 

by Timon. As Voltaire was the precursor of 1789, Timon was 
the precursor of ] 848 ; those who ca,me after, battered the build- 
ing and did the rough work : — he laid the mine. Whether his 
calculations were true or false, whether his elaborate figures were 
calumnies or mistakes, whether the fortune of Louis-Philippe was 
overrated, and ought to be applied to the support of his family, 
whether all this was true or not, the project of the dotation fell 
before the pamphlet of Timon, and the cutting away of all dota- 
tions for the future was small evil compared with the discredit 
that attended the failure. The Ministry were themselves para- 
lyzed, and put the question to the vote without a speech — ^were 
beaten and fell. 

Now look at Timon, he is a man of mild, thoughtful counte- 
nance, of a fair brow, and quiet, reflective eye. His attire is 
plain and unostentatious. He looks as if he would not hurt a 
fly. His voice is never heard, and yet he does not look unsocial. 
How could he be, who has written the " Livre des Orateurs ?" 
He who can not speak himself, has glorified his more gifted col- 
leagues. How graphically has he portrayed them I — how cor- 
dially has he dwelt on the rare powers of his own political oppo- 
nents ! — loving talent for its own sake. Now look at L'Herbette 
the Omega of this Alpha ; his little features are as hard as flint, 
and his voice cuts like a saw. He called on the Assembly to 
name directly their own Ministers, because it would be an act 
of energy, and because they could then call their Ministers to 
account. This was putting the question on no gracious grounds. 
Such a man was not made for conciliation, and so he went on — 

" I know perfectly that attempts are making to intimidate us 
(murmurs from the left) ; for the intimidatory system has not 
departed with the old Chamber." (Explosion of murmurs from 
the left.) 

L,e Citoyen Jean Reynaud. — " Instead of speaking of con- 
ciliation, you speak of intimidation. It is an injustice to the 
party sitting on these benches." 

Le Citoyen Sarrut. — " There are no parties here — there is 
no other desire than that of conciliation." Proceeding a little 
further, he went on to assume, that in case their decisions should 



THEODORE BAG. 59 



bring about a conflict, they would, in consequence of their nomi- 
nation by universal suflVage, have the people under the uniform 
of the National Guard, and all the workmen, against them. 
Here again he touched a discordant note. 

Le Citoyen Basinier, subsequently distinguished as a Red 
Republican, shouted out : " No provocation, or we shall reply." 

Le Citoyen Vignerte. — " I protest against alarmists. They 
are enemies of the Republic." 

Lc Citoyen Jules Favre. — " It is an incitement to civil war. 
Keep to the question." 

Le Citoyen L'Herbette. — " You protest then against what I 
say?" 

Numerous voices from the left. — " Yes, yes." 

Aiid, after a few words of explanation, Citoyen L'Herbette 
withdrew. 

It was now evident that even the claims of such a man as M. 
L'Herbette could not absolve him in the eyes of the new men, 
the Repicblicaiiis de la veille ; and that the loud professions 
that there were no parties, could not prevent explosions of party 
humor on the slightest provocation. 

We pass over some intermediate speakers of no note, to come 
to Theodore Bac ; and we come to Theodore Bac because he is 
one of the new public men, for whom, on account of his extreme 
opinions, there was no place under the monarchy. M. Bac, like 
Barbes, descended from the Mountain to the tribune. His man- 
ner ia earnest — earnestness which is not put on by the advocate, 
for he is a member of the bar. He has a fresh, florid counte- 
nance, but weak, irresolute eye, betraying that his heat of style 
is transitory rather than habitual. His language, although forci- 
bly delivered, is not terse, but difluse. His conclusion was for 
p^n adjournment of the question until such time as the members 
of the Assembly should come to know one another better. M. 
Bao, although a Red RepubUcan and Socialist of the school of 
Louis Blanc, does not seem destined to play a notable part in 
the stormy scenes of a revolution. Some one said of him that 
he was a Girondist who had strayed into a club of Jacobins. 
Citoyen Jules Favre is a different sort of man. He entered. 



60 JULES FAVRE. 



the Assembly with a certain amount of reputation. Known to 
the bar, he was taken by the hand by the Repubhcan Minister 
of the Interior, who made him his secretary, guide, councillor, 
and friend. Favre was identified with the worst acts of M. 
Ledru-RoUin's government — if he were not indeed their prompter. 
For a young man, his appearance is peculiarly disagreeable ; not 
that he is not possessed of the advantages of a good figure ; but 
there is in the hard immobility of his pale features a concentrated 
white heat of malevolent anger, that, provoked, would be implac- 
able. His look through his spectacles is fixed and coldly search- 
ing, and his stiff manner of holding his head, with the chin 
drawn in, so that when he turns the head, the shoulders and 
body go together, as if all were of a piece without joints, gives him 
a dogmatic air, by no means captivating. His voice is, never- 
theless, flexible and clear, his reasoning strong, his logic piercing 
and sure, and would be perfect in its way, only for the occasional 
diffuseness, the besetting sin of avocats, and the bad faith of the 
unquiet, ambitious partisan. Such a man was never made to 
be a tribune of the people. As the active agent of a well- 
grounded, unquestioned power, he would be at home. You 
might expect to meet such a combination of intolerance and 
affected suppleness in the innermost sanctuary of a General of 
the Jesuits, or by the side of a De Retz, pulling the wires at 
once of the populace and the Court ; but it is a singular proof 
of Ledru-Rollin's want of insight, that he should have placed 
his impetuous and imprudent nature in the hands of so young a 
Mephistophiles. 

M. Favre is of that order of democrats who are so from jeal- 
ousy of those above, rather than from love of those beneath them. 
His liberty is but the mask of his intolerance ; and it is highly 
characteristic of the man that, from the first moment, he assumed 
an. air of authoritative domineering that revolted the Assembly, 
and lost him the place which, with a little modesty, his undoubted 
talents would have secured him. Nevertheless, it can not be 
predicted of such a man, as of Theodore Bac — should the Re- 
public last for some years — what position he might be called 
upon to sustain, for he has ta<lents and force of character to make 



SPEECH AGAINST THE COMMISSION. Gl 

him a formidable foe, and he has no scruples to withhold his vin- 
dictiveness. 

The reasoning of Jules Favre was that of a man who, despite 
his democratic professions, leaned to the exercise of strong execu- 
tive powers. He would not admit the introduction of so strange 
a principle as that of a loose assembly of nine hundred persons, 
standing in the place of a monarch or president, making and re- 
voking ministers, according to passion or whim. It was a bar- 
barous method, contrary to that of civilized societies, which had 
all agreed on placing an intermediate power between the legisla- 
tion and administration — a power ever armed and ever ready to 
execute the national will with rapidity and security. 

It is not necessary to detail the reasons presented by M. Favre 
for rejecting the conclusion of the commission, because there are 
few English readers who would not admit at once its absurdity ; 
but it deserves to be noted as a curious fact, that this conclusion, 
so agreeable to a new popular body, fancying itself endowed with 
all virtues, and full of expansive sentiments of fraternity and 
zeal, should have been encouraged by old practiced legislators. 
It was, therefore, no easy task encountered by M. Favre, and he 
accomplished it with signal ability. He did not omit to season 
his discourse with epigrams, at the expense of men of recent con- 
victions, recalling thus with bad taste his own too notorious dis- 
tinction of Republicains cle la veille. He showed, too, that he 
was not a man to be blinded by illusions ; while his friends were 
indulging in philanthropic visions for having shown the necessity 
of a compact execution in case of war, he proceeded to argue, 
that it would be no less necessary in case of civil commotion, and 
to civil commotion he looked forward. " What I" asked he, "do 
you believe that we shall found a Republic without agitations 
and shocks ? Do you think that there will be no resistances to 
dread ? Do you believe that we shall not see conspiracies and 
emeutes ? (cries of No, and Yes, and prolonged movement). If 
you believe that you can found a popular government three 
months after the fall of a monarchy, without any emotion being 
caused in the country, then I descend from this tribune, I quit 
the Assembly, and I leave you alone in your opinion." This 



62 ABBE LACORDAIRE. 



was language calculated to bring people to their senses, and it 
succeeded. 

If truth be stranger than fiction, there are, in public assemblies, 
contrasts more dramatic than stage writers have fancied. This 
was exemplified in the figure and character of the individual 
whom one of the pointed epigrams of the last speaker excited to 
the tribune. His thin figure, attired in the white robe of a 
Dominican friar — which he never exchanged for any other — ^the 
Abbe Lacordaire descended not slowly, but impetuously, from his 
seat on the left, halted for a moment in the midst of the salle, 
and, with a hand raised toward the President, from which fell 
the large drapery, signified his intention to speak. No theatrical 
entree could have been more striking. The looks of curiosity 
which followed him from all sides made him the central figure 
of a highly-ornamented picture. No clumsy or vulgar-looking 
monk — no sour, or wild, or stupid fanatic was he ; but, in appear- 
ance, one of the most distingue and gentlemanly persons it was 
ever one's good fortune to see. A handsome oval face, large lus- 
trous eyes, and fine head, rose above the tribune ; and when he 
spoke, it was not with the cold, insinuating tone of the confessor. 
He declared that he would not have addressed them, but for an 
insinuation of the pre-opinant, that there were persons in that 
Assembly who were actuated by lurking motives of a hostile 
character. For his own part, so far was he from being there to 
join in a vote injurious to the Republic, he would vote for the 
Executive Commission. He acknowledged that he was not a 
Republican before the 24th of February ; and although he now 
fully adopted the Republic, yet he felt that the Government 
properly belonged to those whose opinions were of older date than 
his own : but while he did this act of justice to elder Republi- 
cans, he claimed for the minority respect ; for they had seen that 
majorities might perish, and minorities make their principles pre- 
vail. The sentiments were good, but the delivery was little in 
accordance with received notions of parliamentary manner. It 
was extremely impassioned and vehement. As he complained of 
the insinuations that he repelled, his voice was as piercing as if 
he were wrenching, with both hands, from his breast, a dart that 



ABBE LACORDAIRE. 63 



was there rankling. As a pulpit oration, or an exhortation to 
subdue animosity, to forget and forgive, and to join fraternally to 
heal the wounds of the country, it was not unworthy of the 
Dominican's fame ; but, as a parliamentary speech, it was a 
failure, and that from no fault of the orator. 

There are rules of harmony applicable to all situations, any 
violation of which will not be atoned for by separate excellence. 
In the frenzied times of 1789, the fantastic was in its place; 
but in the National Assembly, where the fantastic was only acted 
badly by a few, and saddened the sober many, there was no 
encouragement even for sincerity in an antiquated costume. The 
shrill voice of the speaker, his attenuated figure, and nervous 
vivacity, gave him more the appearance of an Arab chief in his 
bournou, exhibiting for his conquerors, than a divine, anxious to 
infuse the spirit of charity, and good feeling, among an auditory 
profoundly divided among themselves, and distrustful of one an- 
other. It was whispered about at the time (for there are always 
romantic traditions at the service of any handsome man who en- 
chains to his heel the society he has renounced) that Lacordaire 
was in early youth smitten with a love for the stage, and took les- 
sons from Talma, from whom he derived his taste for costume and 
knowledge of effect ; that he forsook the tragic muse for the bar, 
and deserted the bar for the Church — a love tale, of course, accounts 
for his disgust for the world. When in the Church, he accom- 
panied Lamennais to the brink of heresy, from which he started 
back affrighted ; yet the poetry of his nature led him to the 
Order over which the fate of Savonarola sheds an immortal 
interest. Methinks we have found, at length, the key to the 
citizen friar's conduct — he would be the modem Savonarola ; he 
would reconcile democracy with the Church ; he makes brave 
efforts to do so in his journal, the Ere Nouvelle ; and has brought 
on his shoulders the anger of the Univers, and of that doughty 
layman, the Count de Montalembert. The Assembly was only 
permitted to have a passing glimpse of this brilliant and interest- 
ing meteor, for, after the invasion of the Chamber, trom which 
we are separated but by a few days, he formally resigned, horror- 
struck at what he had witnessed. 



64 ODILON BARROT. 



Let us pass a couple of intermediate combatants, to come to 
Odilon Barrot, opposed to Lacordaire on the question of the 
Executive Commission. He, too, had been stung by the same 
sneer at recent conversions to the Repubhc and sinister motives. 
His first words were in the orator's most manly manner : — " I 
am not stopped by this scruple ; the country is juster than 
parties ; it sees none other among us than men profoundly 
devoted to the liberty of their country and to the foundation of 
the Republic." This told vi^ell. His argument vi^as, in its way, 
no less powerful. He showed that an Executive Commission of 
five members, appointed by the Assembly, and revocable by the 
Assembly, amounted to the same thing as a ministry appointed 
and revocable on the same principle ; and, for his part, he would 
rather, if called on to act as minister, be answerable to the 
Assembly, than if appointed by the Assembly. It was a double 
machinery, for which there was no use, and which created com- 
plexity, without answering any constitutional purpose. Subse- 
quent events proved Odilon Barrot to be right ; for when a great 
danger arose some weeks afterward, the Assembly, without wast- 
ing time in discussion, broke the Executive Commission, and 
substituted a single chief, identified with the ministry which he 
should form. Thus the force of circumstances led to the point 
which escaped general deliberation, of a ministry directly answer- 
able to the Assembly ; but created through the simple agency of 
a chief of the executive power, whose own views were in accord- 
ance with those of the majority. 

To return to Odilon Barrot. What strange reflections must 
have passed through his mind ! It was he who presided over 
the series of Reform Banquets, which, organized by Duvergier de 
Hauranne, led to the fall of the Monarchy. It was the course 
which he himself adopted relative to the last of the series, that 
decided the fate of the dynasty. It was he who uttered the last 
words in the Chamber of Deputies on behalf of the Regency of 
the Duchess of Orleans, when that respected lady, in those 
widowed robes that recalled the premature death of her popular 
husband, and with her two children by the hand, oflered the 
mute appeal of her respectable life as the best guarantee of a 



ODILON BARROT. 



prudent and honorable discharge of the trust she was ready to 
accept. It was he, who, on the morning of the 24th of Febru- 
ary, was the King's Minister in the palace — " the father of the 
people," out of doors ; in the evening, was hooted by an armed 
mob from the tribune of the Chamber he would have saved by 
timely reform. Never had a pubUc man been so buffeted and 
overwhelmed in the midst of illusions, and all owing to a want 
of that perspicuous power which enabled Napoleon to perceive 
the very moment of action — a moment that will not stay upon 
the slippery brink ; it must be seized by the prompt hand of 
resolute genius with the rapidity w^th which lightning cleaves 
the oak, or it is gone. 

M. Odilon Barrot is an orator, and a great one ; well versed 
in constitutional lore, and with a bold, round voice, that goes 
home to the hearts of men ; but he is not a man of ready judg- 
ment. After Lafayette, he took his place naturally at the head 
of that portion of the opposition that sought and labored in vain 
to accomphsh the veteran's sponsorial promise for Louis-Philippe, 
that he would surround the throne with Republican institutions ; 
for it is a fact, that Lafayette never did believe that France was 
fitted for an unmixed Republic. There was this difference 
between the views of Odilon Barrot and M. Thiers, that while 
the former exerted himself to obtain a parliament purged of place- 
men, and a widely-extended suffi-age, the latter cared not for 
reform at all, or rather was opposed to it ; satisfied, if he could 
obtain for the Chamber, such as it was, the virtual government 
of the country. He wanted to deprive the King of his personal 
influence over ministers, and to erect the minister into an inde- 
pendent agent of the majority in parliament. " The King should 
reign, but not govern." M. Odilon Barrot thought it quite idle 
to seek to enforce such a maxim, so long as the Chamber con- 
tained fifty-five direct dependents on the Crown ; and a great 
number of functionaries besides, dependent, more or less, on the 
minister of the day. So long as the King could, through his 
own influence, undermine an obnoxious minister, it was idle to 
expect that he would voluntarily accept for rule of conduct, the 
«* Le Roi rcg?ie metis ne gouverne pas'' of M. Thiers. Thus it 



66 ODILON BARROT. 



was that M. Thiers was ready to take the Chamber as it was, 
provided that he should have the direction of the instrument, 
unsound as it might be ; while M. Barrot never would take 
office, except on the express terms of reform in parliament. True 
to his principles, and of disinterested probity, M. Odilon Barrot 
might, with more energy of character, have formed a party to 
which the country would have looked for guidance, and have 
carried to power ; but, wanting the reputation of a practical 
aptitude for affairs, the most that was accorded them was an 
inactive esteem. There was enough of sentimental sympathy, 
but not enough of encouraging support. 

It happened unfortunately for M. Barrot's administrative 
reputation, that he filled the high office of Prefect of the Seine, 
in the year 1832, when the palace of the Archbishop of Paris 
was sacked ; and when, with worse than Gothic barbarity, not 
merely the furniture and building were destroyed, but the books, 
some of them of rare value, were torn, or burnt, or flung into the 
Seine. The Prefect, armed by his situation with executive 
powers for the suppression of disturbance in the good city of 
Paris, did not put forth his authority in the right way or at the 
right moment ; and, although it may be going too far, even in 
the way of hyperbole, to say that he looked on an impassive 
spectator, yet never did Odilon Barrot recover the impression that 
was made by that event. 

His conduct on the 2 2d of February, is considered to have been 
deficient — ^fatally deficient in tact. He ought to have accepted 
the conditions offered by the Government, namely — to allow the 
guests to go separately to the Banquet, instead of forming a pro- 
cession calculated to cause a disturbance of the peace ; and as soon 
as the guests were seated, a Commissaire de Police would protest 
against the meeting, and his 'proces, verhal be made the ground of a 
proceeding at law, for the sake of testing the legality of Reform 
Banquets. To a man whose mind was imbued with constitu- 
tional lore, himself a lawyer, such a proposition ought to have 
been peculiarly tempting. Pleading in a Court of Justice, there 
was afforded to him the opportunity of achieving a moral victory, 
and, perhaps, of laying the foundation of a plan for working through 



LAMARTINE'S REPLY TO BARROT. 67 

tho institutions for the correction of institutions, instead of by- 
appeals to brute force. By refusing the offer made to him, M. 
Barrot did the great harm of allowing the mass of the people to 
fall into the error that the Banquet had been forbidden, and that 
the Government had drawn the sword. His last act, wise as it 
was in conception, and noble as it was in its attempted execu- 
tion, only served to compromise M. Barrot with the Republic. 
He disappeared in the tumultuous finale of the Monarchy, a beaten, 
repudiated, humiliated man, whose name, inscribed for a moment 
on the list of the Provisional Government, was disdainfully erased ; 
and one of the most unpopular of men on the night of the 24th, 
was the powerful orator and patriot — the leader of the Reform 
party for eighteen years, 

M. Odilon Barrot, as his name indicates, is of Irish descent. 
His features are unmistakably Hibernian, and of that order which 
proves that the native comparison to the once favorite — for now 
it is, alas I but a treacherous — esculent was well justified by 
resemblances that could not escape an acute and witty people. 
But although the countenance be of ordinary Celtic, the forehead 
and fine bold head are of a highly intellectual order. The voice 
is in accordance with so noble a temple of legal and constitutional 
thought — it is of the church-organ, rather than of the trumpet 
kind. The orator's manner is somewhat ostentatious, and his 
dress and walk are indicative of a strong tinge of self-satisfaction 
— so far not belying the Celtic blood, either in its Hibernian or 
Gallic development. Such is M. Odilon Barrot, an effective 
orator, yet inoperative leader ; an honest man, but vacillating 
politician ; bold and noble in his movement, until the moment of 
action comes, and then lost. So powerful was his language on 
the present occasion, that, by a striking coincidence, it brought 
M. de Lamartine to the tribune. 

It was Lamartine who repelled the Regency — it is Lamartine 
who makes his first Republican speech in reply to the last defender 
of the Monarchy. He acknowledged the power of M. Odilon 
Barrot, whose word, he said, had much authority over his mind 
on such subjects. He had nothing to add to the force of M. Jules 
Favre's reasoning on the necessity of an Executive Commission — 



68 CONFUSION IN THE ASSEMBLY. 

for he could not comprehend the position of a Minister obhged to 
come every minute to take the opinion of the Assembly upon an 
act that might require speed and secrecy ; but there his accordance 
with that unsentimental man stopped. Referring to social dangers, 
he could see none. "I proclaim aloud, that I do not fear parties ; 
the parties were vanquished, from the day when you appeared 
within these walls, before the whole nation, from which you have 
been evoked by Universal Suffrage, bringing with you not only 
all rights, but all forces. I do not fear to affirm to my country, 
and to history, that there is no party to-day — there are no factions 
who can prevail for one hour in this country." 

The Assembly was too young, too fresh, and too ardent, not to 
relish such optimist sentiments ; even M. Ledru-Rollin, in a few 
ardent words, showed himself an eclectic ; but when the debate 
was closed, and an opportunity was afforded to the mass to show 
ingenuity by amendments, sub-amendments, suggestions, criticisms, 
and small speeches, the scene that ensued was of the most confused 
and stormy description, and such as filled the observing public 
with despair. The President rang his deep-toned hand-bell, till 
it sounded like the tocsin over a city in rebellion. Laying it 
down, he protested that no human strength could suffice for his 
duties. The guttural notes of Barbes, especially, were heard 
amidst the din, like the crackling and sputtering of wood in the 
roar of a conflagration. At length, after extraordinary efforts, the 
resolution to have an Executive Commission, to be composed of 
five members, chosen by ballot, was fairly rescued from this scene 
of confusion and trouble. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE EXECUTIVE COMMISSION DECLINE OF LAMARTINE ITS CAUSE 

M. WOLOWSKI RAISES THE WORKMEN's QUESTION PEUPIN, A 

WORKMAN, OPPOSES LOUIS BLANC FEELING IN THE CLUBS. 

On Wednesday, 10th of May, the National Assembly elected, 
by ballot, the Executive Commission of Government. The opera- 
tion was very tedious ; but as the names of the five Executive 
Commissioners had been already settled, by that sort of sub- 
terraneous understanding of which parliamentary parties have 
the secret, the sole subject of curiosity was as to the relative 
numbers. At a little after four o'clock the result was made 
known. 

Number of voters 794 

Absolute (or necessary) majority . . . . 398 



The Citizen Arasfo 



to' 



Garnier Pages 
Marie 
Lamartine 
Ledru-Rollin 



725 votes. 
715 " 
702 " 
643 " 
458 " 



These five were consequently declared Members of the Execu- 
tive Commission of the Government of the Republic. 

Lamartine below Arago, Garnier Pages, and Marie ! The 
result caused extreme surprise, both in and out of doors. Ledru- 
Rollin, longo intervallo, last of all I The character of the As- 
sembly was significantly determined. It had been returned under 
the auspices of Ledru-Rollin, who, as Minister of the Interior, 
was charged with the management of the elections. He had 
set himself to the work with his accustomed energy and charac- 
teristic indiscretion. His Commissioners, with no other respoa- 



70 THE EXECUTIVE COxMMISSION. 



sibility than " their own consciences," and with <' unhmited 
powers," traversed the country ; and their acts showed, that 
while they Uterally interpreted their authority, they had, in 
conscience, a bhnd or treacherous monitor. They overdid their 
business, and instead of subduing, or deluding the people of the 
provinces, they excited their distrust, and aroused their vengeance. 
From fear, or prudence, the representatives — truly expressing 
the sentiments of their constituents, joined in proclaiming the 
Republic, did well their parts of factitious enthusiasts ; but when 
their act was shrouded in the mystery of the balloting urn, they 
revealed, unwittingly, the true sentiments of the majority by 
marking their disdain for the Coryphon of the revolution. Had 
it not been for Lamartine, there can be no doubt that Ledru- 
Rollin would have been extinguished, and the numerical weak- 
ness of his party in an Assembly, returned in the very ardor of a 
fresh revolution, exposed beyond doubt or question. If Lamar- 
tine had, on the other hand, listened to the overtures that had 
been made to him, and had he made a declaration satisfactory to 
the sense of the country, which was anxious only for peace and 
security, and trembled at the perspective opened by those who 
were subsequently called Red Republicans ; had he given a pal- 
pable pledge, by an act that was conservative of property, family, 
and religion ; had he, in a word, separated himself from Ledru- 
Rollin, he would have found himself at the head, instead of being 
but within one of the foot of the Commission ; he would have 
had the darling ambition of his heart gratified, by being made 
the first President of the Republic ; he would have been at the 
head of the country, and have taken his place in history among 
those great men who — themselves the best expression of the best 
feelings of their own times — carry their country on a great step 
further in its progress to good, and stamp their immortal image 
on their generation, as if, god-like, they had molded it all them- 
selves. Be it strength, or be it weakness, be it true generosity, 
be it self-sacrificing magnanimity, or be it self-deception — be it 
theatrical assumption of an attitude intended to win admiration, 
be it goodness or amiability, be it what it might — Lamartine in 
covering Ledru-Rollin with his own blazing shield, and lifting 



PALLIATIONS FOR LAMARTINE. 71 

him to power with himself, received that fatal whisper, " Cassio, 
I forgive thee, but never more be officer of mine." 

Very much might certainly have been said in justification of 
Lamartine's decision. Ledru-Rollin, thrown out of the Govern- 
ment, would, it must be allowed, have been received in the arms 
of the Revolutionists, already dissatisfied with the composition of 
the Assembly. He would have afforded them a leader and a 
name. He was the unmixed democrat, the very expression of 
the Republic in February. Expelled from the Government, he 
would have been the expression of the Revolution conquered by 
reaction. A struggle must have come. In the Government he 
could form but a unit. He would be bound by honor and inter- 
est to his colleagues, and yet neutralized by their influence. But 
the answer to all this was quickly furnished by events ; for the 
struggle followed immediately, while the Executive was weak- 
ened by the distrust of the Assembly. 

Lamartine did not probably estimate the depth of parliament- 
ary dislike for the Ultra-Republicans. His ear had been con- 
founded by the din of Vive la Rejyublique, and his eye dazzled 
by the breadth and extent of fresh Republican devotion ; but 
palliations of error will not do for men who take upon themselves 
the initiative of crises involving the fate of nations. His sagac- 
ity was at fault. His moral courage did not come up to the 
mark. He could not part with his distrusted companions. He 
failed to see the latent power that only awaited the voice of a 
competent chief to show itself in its immensity. He would have 
been reproached? true, and he might have been stabbed by a 
ruffian. But the confusion, and the complexity, and the danger 
besetting his situation, would have made the strong decision he 
might have taken his title-deed to the Chieftainship of the French 
people. From this day forth Lamartine was no more the same 
man. He who forbade the Regency, and who like an impro- 
vised Cromwell, put his foot on the bauble of the Crown, and 
led the people to the H6tel-de-Ville, might have acted under the 
momentary intoxication of a poetic frenzy, or he might have taken 
a clear, well-calculated view of the future. He was a rash or a 
bold man, according to the way in which he would sustain thence- 



72 LAMARTJNE'S INFLUENCE. 

forward the post he had seized. Was he a Rienzi, a Masaniello, 
or a Cromwell, or Washington, or Bonaparte ? The first act of 
the author of the " History of the Girondists," only raised a pre- 
sumption that he was a man of decision. His next, when he 
struck down the red flag and inaugurated the tri-color, in a burst 
of eloquence that can never die, was a brave act. From that 
mioment the eloquent member of the Provisionai Government had 
won his spurs. The marvelous eloquence with which he en- 
chanted, subdued, and ruled France, will ever remain the most 
striking illustration of the sober truth of Milton's description : — 

.... resistless eloquence 
Wielded at will that fierce democratie. 

His replies to the various addresses from people of all countries, 
and his diplomatic papers were alike models of that prudence and 
eloquence that flow from exalted wisdom. It would be idle to 
deny that the career of M. de Lamartine, from the morrow of 
the Revolution to the day of which we are now speaking, was 
beneficial to his country. He directed the extravagances of 
excited passions into the channels of philanthropic sympathy, by 
opening prospects of chivalrous adventure. He put a check upon 
the long-brooding enmity felt toward England, when, had he 
hinted invasion, the hint would have been obeyed, although ruin 
should have been the consequence. One act more — an under- 
standing and appreciation of the majority of the Assembly, a 
separation from the Ultra-Republicans, a defiance of the conse- 
quences, moral and physical — and Lamartine was at the head of 
the country. Conciliation was the desire and excuse of Lamar- 
tine. He wished to reconcile irreconcilable elements. He fan- 
cied that he could talk down all difliculties, for he had talked 
down many. He who could still the passions of mobs, thought 
he had only to take a mob leader, or ruthless demagogue, submit 
him to the mesmerism of his influence, and take him into a para- 
dise of pure visions, where he would leave the dross of his dema- 
gogueism. The Assembly estimated the motives, but their more 
practical estimate of men suggested that Lamartine was mistaken, 
and that the fate of the country could not be trusted to a self- 
deluding statesman. 



WOLOWSKI. 73 



As soon as the Executive Commission was formed, it was at 
once challenged to the consideration of the two questions to which 
the Republic stood committed. The great foreign question of 
the emancipation of nationalities, and the great domestic question, 
of the organization of labor. M. Wolowski opened both ques- 
tions in the same speech. As a Pole who had become a natural- 
ized Frenchman, he presented a petition from the Poles of Posen, 
Cracow, and Gallicia ; as a Professor in the Institution des Arts 
ct Metiers, he deemed himself competent to treat the workmen's 
question. The man who stood forward so prominently to stir up 
danger, the extent of which he did not suspect, was a Professor, 
and nothing more. His language was sententious, his manner 
cold, and neither were improved by an elaborate effort at warmth. 
The Poles, however admired as a people, do not enjoy much 
esteem as individuals in Paris — the needy and the proscribed 
seldom do. The needy must have recourse to shifts, that strip 
even the proscribed of romance. To M. Wolowski these obser- 
vations do not apply, for he had won for himself, by the exercise 
of talents and acquirements, an honored position ; but he was not 
effective in the Assembly, and that was all which was then 
wanted. As the Italian Question was held to be intimately con- 
nected with that of Poland, M. de Lamartine, as Ex-Minister 
for Foreign Affairs, announced his intention of treating both on 
the following Monday, destined to become memorable. 

The Labor Question was seized on by a more redoubtable 
champion. Louis Blanc proposed and argued strenuously for 
the formation of a new administrative department, devoted ex- 
clusively to the Labor Question, under the name of Ministere 
du Progres. The erection of such a department had been his 
dream from the moment that he formed one of the Provisional 
Government. Had he pressed it, and made an appeal to his 
partisans out of doors, he would have provoked a collision. The 
Provisional Government, in order to give him and Albert em- 
ployment, inven4;ed the magnificently deceptive delegation of 
tradesmen to take their seats in the Chamber of Ex-Peers, with 
Louis Blanc in the place of the Chancellor, Due Pasquier. Had 
it not been for this brilliant invention, the other members of the 

D 



74 COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY. 

Provisional Government might have been thro^vn aut of the win- 
dows of the H6tel-de-ViUe. 

Upon the meeting of the National Assembly, M. Louis Blanc 
dissolved the delegation, and demanded the formation of this 
administration, as the fulfillment of the pledge made to the 
working classes, and as the only efiective means, m.oreover, of 
arriving, through official and scientific approaches, at the final 
completion of the organization of labor. He was now coldly 
received by the Assembly, a regularly organized representative 
body, protected by the armed National Guard ; and he was 
replied to by M. Peupin, the operative, who substituted the 
more harmless resolution of a Committee of Inquiry. The}'" had, 
he said, Ministers of Public Works, and of Agriculture ; they did 
not want to go on voyages of discovery ; the workmen wanted 
work, and only work, and that would come with a revival of 
confidence and credit. Yet the Assembly felt that the question 
could not be disposed of lightly ; they knew that at that moment 
there were loose assemblages of workmen in their neighborhood, 
who were watching anxiously and menacingly the mode in which 
their question would be treated. To set it aside would have 
been impossible, and while a Commission of Inquiry was substi- 
tuted, great care was taken to let it be understood that it was a 
serious and substantial inquiry. M. Freslon, subsequently a 
Cabinet Minister, hazarded the following declaration : " The 
National Assembly will, of necessity, pose all the great basis of 
the organization of labor ; and if it did not do so, it would be 
cursed by posterity, and be despised by France." There can be 
no doubt that the Assembly was tried for the acts of the day in 
the Clubs of Paris, and condemned. 



^ CHAPTER VII. 

INFLUENCE OF EMINENT I^IEN M. VR'-IEN THE NEW mNISTRY 

THEIH DEFICIENCIES M. FLOCON, THEIR SPOKESMAN. 

The sitting of Thursday, the 11th of May, was not remark- 
able. The rules for regulating the maimer of their debates were 
discussed and agreed to. They differed little from those which 
had been followed by the old parliament. There was a great 
deal of confusion, disorder, and irregularity. A multitude of 
propositions, more or less trivial, were presented, showing gener- 
ally how completely unaccustomed to parliamentary usages, or 
to the usages of public meetings of any kind, were a very great 
portion of the Assembly. It was evident that there had been 
no previous training, and the want of popular political education 
was not compensated for by any apparent aptitude for debate. 
There was much squabbling — much talking — ^much badly im- 
provised suggestion, and criticism, and for the President the 
Herculean task of keeping order. 

There was one gratifying sign, however, amid this Babel of 
tongues and moral chaos. Whether it arose from curiosity on 
the part of the provincial members, or whether it was owing to 
the influence always exercised by real superiority, certain it was, 
that as soon as a man of eminence ascended the tribune, he was 
sure to obtain a deferential hearing. M. Vivien, who had been a 
Cabinet Minister under Mole, and again under Thiers, and of course 
no Republicain de la veille, was nevertheless chosen to be Chair- 
man, or as it is called, Reporter, of the Committee for preparing 
rules for the government of the debates. He is a tall, mild, fresh- 
complexioned man, wearing his hair in that flowing way which 
the possessors take to be symptomatic of their Frank and aristo- 
cratic descent. For the Franks are to the Celts, what the 
Normans in England are to the Saxons — that is, the ancestral 
source of great houses. 



THE NEW MINISTERS. 



M. Vivien's established reputation for probity, his temperate 
liberaHsm, the freedom of his name from factious efforts, and his 
sober honhommie, won their way calmly and persuasively ; and 
this mild triumph effected much, for it set the example of influ- 
ence on the part of the members of the old parliament, who 
would have been proscribed by the Ledru-Rollins, had the tem- 
per of the country only proved what they had expected to find it. 
The names of the new Ministry were announced in the course of 
the day. They were some of them under-secretaries of the 
miembers of the Executive Commission, while they had them- 
selves filled the posts of ministers in the Provisional Government. 
Thus M. Jules Bastide, the secretary of M. de Lamartine, was 
created Minister for Foreign Affairs ; M. Duclerc, the secretary 
of Garnier Pages, was made Finance Minister ; Colonel Charras, 
a secretary in the War Department, was made Minister of War ; 
Admiral Casy, Minister of Marine. The Ministry of the Interior 
was given to M. Recurt, a medical doctor. Not one of these 
ministers was capable of delivering himself of two consecutive 
sentences at the tribune. 

M. Bastide, although he had been a writer in the National, 
was obliged to commit to paper the shortest ministerial explana- 
tion. M. Duclerc, a young man of formal exterior, and wearing 
a long beard, as little in accordance with his years as was the 
solemn foppery of this capricious fashion in accordance with the 
plainness of mind and manner expected in a Chancellor of the 
Exchequer, the most dangerous of all dealers in folly. He could 
stammer through a statement indeed, but the matter would be as 
bad as the manner. Doctor Recurt, like many other doctors, 
could only shake his head. The Minister of War could not 
speak daggers ; and he of the Marine exhibited indeed a benevo- 
lent rubicundity of visage, but as innocent of political expression 
as the figure-head of a frigate. Now although M. Bastide is a 
worthy, honest, and even religious man ; and M. Duclerc a gen- 
tleman of good intentions ; and all the rest honorable men ; yet, 
in the eyes of the public, they were still but the under-secretaries 
of the Executive Commission ; and, whatever mistake might 
have been committed by all or either, could not have been 



THE NEW MINISTERS— FLOCON. 77 



atoned for by a change of ministers. A power, not in harmony 
with opinion, can not last long ; and the shape that the Govern- 
ment had taken was odd and unsatisfactory in the eyes both of 
the advocates for a ministry directly elected by the House, and 
in the view of those who looked in vain for an Executive relieved 
of responsibility by the mere removal of an obnoxious Cabinet. 
The other posts were assigned to members of the Ex-Provisional 
Government. M. Cremieux resumed the Ministry of Justice ; 
M. Carnot, that of Public Instruction ; M. Bethmont took the 
portfolio of Public Worship, which was separated from that of 
Justice, because of the Jewish faith of the Justice Minister ; and 
the Ministry of Commerce was given to M. Flocon. Another 
doctor, M. Trelat, was made Minister of Public Works. M. 
Marrast was created Mayor of Paris ; M. Pagnerre was appoint- 
ed Secretary-General of the Executive Commission, with a de- 
liberative voice in Council ; and Caussidiere to the Police. All 
the members of the Provisional Government were provided for, 
with the exception of Louis Blanc and Albert. Even with 
the help of these supplementary names, there was perhaps never 
an instance of a Cabinet obliged to expound, explain, and de- 
fend its acts before a popular assembly so deplorably deficient 
as was this first legitimate Ministry of a Republic, about to 
propound the most momentous questions that had ever shaken 
society. 

The leadership of the House devolved on M. Flocon, for nei- 
ther the Foreign Minister nor Home Minister could answer the 
simplest question ; and who and what was M. Flocon ? His 
own description of himself is, that " he had been a conspirator 
all his life." He did not look a Pierre ; he was not " a bold- 
faced villain." Fancy a small, bent, thick-set figure — a white, 
swollen visage — a dull, smoked eye ; and yet this luibitue of the 
estaminet had, by his attendance in the stenographer's gallery of 
the Chamber of Deputies, and his subsequent contributions to 
the Reforme journal, acquired sufficient use of speech and lan- 
guage to enable him to shine, by comparison with his colleagues, 
although his shining was not brilliant. Flocon belonged, by 
sentiment and temperament, to the democrats of the Blanc and 



78 TRELAT, BETHMONT, ETC. 

Albert school ; but lie could not make up his mind to separate 
himself from Ledru-Rollin, who had appointed him editor of his 
journal, the Reforme. It was in the office of this then obscure 
paper that the conspirators met on the night of the 23d of Feb- 
ruary, and resolved upon striking a blow for the RepubHc. Flo- 
con shouldered his gun bravely, and next day fought at the Cha- 
teau d'Eau, and helped to burn and destroy that post opposite 
the Palais Royal, in which, for a long hour and a half, some 
threescore Municipal Guards resisted till they perished to a man. 
Heated with this achievement, the mob, comparatively a handful 
of desperadoes, rushed to the Tuileries, through an army that 
might have crushed them, but which stood without leaders or 
orders ; entered the Chateau ; caused a panic that at this day 
appears absurd ; frightened away the Royal Family, in presence 
of a magnificent display of horse, foot, and artillery ; crossed the 
undefended bridge of the Chamber of Deputies ; smote down 
the Regency ; were about to shoot M. de Lamartine by mistake ; 
then followed him to the H6tel-de-Ville. When a dynasty fell 
so, Flocon deserved to rise ! Between cigars, billiards, and the 
leadership of the Assem.bly, how pleasantly must have passed 
away the brief period of his ministerial existence I 

Dr. Trelat could speak pretty well on the subject with which 
he was worried to death— ^the Ateliers Nationaux. He is a 
thin, sallow man, with a melancholy voice, and began his 
speeches as if he was about to cry ; and doleful, truly, was the 
burthen of his lachrymose lament — to which recurrence will 
have to be frequently made, as we approach the days of June. 
Well and appropriate as he could speak upon his special theme, 
he could not fill the part of orator for the Cabinet, 

M. Bethmont soon resigned, and the portfolio of Public Wor- 
ship was re-attached to that of Justice, to the satisfaction of 
Cremieux, who felt the stigma on his creed. M. Carnot was 
too cold, too reserved, too phlegmatic, for a speaker ; and thus 
it happened, that the oratorical team of the Cabinet, to drag it 
through the deep ruts and the mire in which it was so often to 
sink, and to show ofi^ on gala-days, was composed of Cremieux 
and Flocon, personally the least attractive of the lot. 



DILEMMA OF THE EXECUTIVE. 79 

The members of the Directory could undoubtedly descend 
from their imperial state to the tribune ; but, by marking more 
completely the insufficiency and mediocrity of their Ministers, 
they but served to show, that, in establishing one sort of con- 
stitutional fable, they had set up another of a very inferior 
kind. 



CHAPTEPu VIII. 

M. BERRYER NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, SON OP JEROME. 

A DISCUSSION as to the manner of electing a Committee to 
prepare a draft of the Constitution, filled up the greater part of 
Friday, the 12th of May. M. Berryer took an active part in 
the proceeding. M. Berryer, although his presence excited no 
ra.ark of hostility, yet was he received coldly, indeed indifferently. 
He seldom interfered afterw^ard, although had he obtained suf- 
ficient encouragement, there can be little doubt that he would 
have been tempted to indulge in the ample floods of his magnifi- 
cent elocution. The chivalrous leader of the Legitimist party, 
throughout so many weary years, has been compared with Mira- 
beau. The comparison is only just to the extent, that neither 
were reading men ; that both loved society, and drew their 
information from the conversation of well-instructed men, who 
acted as store-ships for those mightier vessels of war. The tongue 
of scandal, which was once so busy with the ugly, Medusa-headed 
aristocrat, Mirabeau, whose fiery passions hurried him into a rev- 
olutionary leadership, and whose insatiate wants subdued him 
into the secret pensioner of a doomed King — that poisonous 
tongue has spared the handsome and luxurious barrister. 

A fortuneless man, who clings to a fallen cause, especially 
when highly gifted, makes great sacrifices, for which he is no 
doubt repaid by those half-sad, half-hopeful moments of solitary 
indulgence, so dear to the finely-toned soul, and for which, per- 
haps, the tumultuous duties and pleasures of successful public 
life could not afford compensation. 

M. Berryer was made for the Church. Had he appeared in 
the pulpit, he would have been the legitimate successor of the 
Bossuets, Massilons, Flechiers, and Fenelons. He would have 
had no rival in his day. His voice is beautiful, and of that 
unctuous fullness which would have carried to the soul the 



BERRYER. 81 



cheering and comforting messages of the New Testament. Lan- 
guage bubbles on his Ups, and flows forth with a copiousness 
that seems independent of will ; and when language comes out 
with clear and rapid spontaneousness, so the man, appearing not 
to invent, looks a vessel of abundance ; then it is that people 
believe in inspiration. The speaker has not time, or seems not 
to have time, to arrange his words, pregnant though they be 
with mind, expanded to genius. With such a one, an argument 
may fail in logical precision ; but an exhortation would be as a 
chorus of heavenly harps. 

Berryer is in appearance a perfect gentleman. He is remarkably 
handsome, of the Canning style of graceful, manly beauty. He is 
too liberal to suit the tastes of every one of his party ; for, like all 
great natural orators, he must be more or less imbued with popular 
leanings ; and is not his instrument the congregated people in the 
persons of their representatives ? The Legitimists preserve the tra- 
ditions of courtiership, and of a courtiership such as was practiced 
under Charles X., rather than under Louis XVIII., whose mind 
was touched with the philosophy of the eighteenth century. To 
the mind of Berryer, the Monarchy is a magnificent chain, binding, 
from St. Louis to the Martyr of the Revolution, the chivalrous 
history of France. To destroy the Monarchy, is to quench the 
sun of the national records. There is nothing in the Monarchy, 
no more than in the Church, incompatible with the easy develop- 
ment of popular institutions. Though all men should vote, there 
is no reason why royalty should fall. Berryer is no political 
bigot ; he has no personal antipathies. He can enjoy the witty 
talk of Thiers, and leave it to the public judgment to deal \^dth 
the admirer of Danton and the worshiper of Napoleon. So ex- 
pansive a nature ought to have won upon the National Assem- 
bly ; but, as the advocate's position and popular disposition stand 
between him and some of his own party, so does his sensitive re- 
pulsion of low-bred coarseness make it impossible for him to place 
himself on a familiar footing with so undisciplined an audience. 

In the course of this day the Assembly was startled by the 
appearance at the tribune of Citizen Napoleon Bonaparte, son of 
Jerome, the Ex-King of Westphalia. The resemblance to his 



82 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, SON OF JEROME. 

great uncle is truly remarkable. He has the same massive clas- 
sicality of head and features, the same deep olive complexion — ^it 
was the very head that is seen on the Arc de Triomphe de 
I'Etoile, and cast, as it were, in living bronze. Had Louis-Na- 
poleon such a head, his popularity would have been hero-worship. 
As you examine the countenance, the impression is weakened, 
and the more weakened as you watch the man moving about. 
He is young, but not slight, as his uncle was at the same age ; 
his look indicates quickness and wile, rather than profound talent. 
He seems clever, but of no high order of cleverness. Were it 
not for the likeness to the Napoleon, he would pass for a fashion- 
able young gentleman, neither better nor worse than most fash- 
ionable young gentlemen are. As he walks along the passage on 
the height of the right, presenting only his profile and shoulders 
between the back bench and wall, the moving bust might be 
taken for a spectral appearance of the Emperor. His business at 
the tribune was not ominous of good. He moved to have all 
diplomatic papers connected with Poland and Italy produced, to 
enable members to take part in the discussion of the Polish and 
Italian Questions, fixed for the following Monday — a day to be 
forever memorable. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PETITION IN FAVOR OF POLAND BAD FEELING TOWARD THE 

NATIONAL GUARDS THE FETE DE LA FRATERNITE POSTPONED 

AGITATION OUT OF DOORS PROCESSION OF THE CLUBS 

INVASION OF THE ASSEMBLY ITS ATTEMPTED OVERTHROW 

RASPAIL, BLANQUI, HUBER, ETC. A REVOLUTION OF AN HOUR 

SOBRIER's EXPEDITION PANIC IN PARIS ARREST OF THE 

CONSPIRATORS NIGHT SCENE. 

A GREAT muster of the Clubs of Paris was to have taken place 
on Saturday morning, the 1 3th of May, for the alleged purpose 
of carrying a petition to the Assembly in favor of Poland. 
Whether it was that time had not been afforded for preparation, 
or that Saturday being a precious day to the workman, wliile 
Monday is traditionally the great Saturnalia of the idle, or for 
the sake of masking their real intentions, only a very small body 
of persons assembled at the Column of February on the Place de 
la Bastile. As the procession moved along it was swelled in its 
course by the ever ready contributions of the Jidneurs, and by 
the time it reached the Madeleine, the crowd was pretty consid- 
erable. There a halt took place, out of affected respect for the 
Assembly ; a deputation merely took the petition, which, by pre- 
concerted arrangement, was received by M. Vavin, representative, 
a gentleman conspicuous for his zeal in the Polish cause. 

The petition was received as coolly as if the Assembly had 
been the House of Commons ; and there can be little difficulty 
in believing that the manner of its reception was watched and 
reported, and employed as a motive for a further more powerful 
demonstration on Monday. It so happened that the day was 
exceedingly hot, and the wine-shops were filled in all directions 
with the members of this experimental expedition. The men 
drank and discussed, and the more they discussed the more they 
drank; and what with drinking and talking and the burning 



84 THE 15TH MAY— FETE DE LA FRATERNITE. 

weather, and the incitements of maHgnant agents among them, 
they conducted themselves in such a way as to alarm the neigh- 
borhood, and the rappel was beaten for calling out the National 
Guards. Such offense did the beating of the rappel give, that 
the drums were seized and smashed on the Boulevards, opposite 
the Foreign Office itself This was reported far and wide, and 
that enmity against the civic force, which already had begun to 
display itself among the blouses, although they might be National 
Guards if they chose, was very much increased. 

A grand fete had been announced for the next day, under the 
title of Fete de la Fraternite. The project was miarred by a 
public announcement on the part of Louis Blanc, and of the 
delegates of workmen who had sat at the Luxembourg, that inas- 
m.uch as the promises made to the workmen at the barricades of 
February had not been fulfilled, they would not take the places 
assigned to them in the Champ de Mars. This notification added 
of course to the prevailing excitement ; and there was so much 
reason to apprehend that the fraternal feast would be of a Cain 
and Abel kind, that it was adjourned. 

The proceedings of the Assembly on this day were, v^dth ref- 
erence to the internal regulations of the Chamber, with respect 
to its standing Committee, another matter ; but the evident 
ascendency which the old experienced ex-deputies of the liberal 
opposition continued to acquire, became remarkable. Only for 
such men as Odilon Barrot, Vivien, and Dupin, it would have 
been hardly possible to have extricated any subject out of the 
confusion and chaos in which all propositions became involved. 
The Ministers could not lead the Assembly ; and when their 
spokesman, M. Flocon, hazarded a proposition of his own, it was 
sure to fall beneath the courteous assaults of some Republicains 
de la veille. 

Such a spectacle was not calculated to raise the Assembly in 
the eyes of the Clubs, who had indeed settled the matter in their 
own minds, that it was not up to the Robespierreian revolution- 
ary mark. In such a frame of mind, as the reader may easily 
imagine, did the Club leaders pass Sunday, which, like some of 
the eves of the most dreadful events of the first Revolution, was 



POPULAR PRESENTIMENT— THE POLISH QUESTION. 85 

marked by a terrific thunder-storm. This had the agreeable 
effect of tempering the burning atmosphere, and Monday opened 
with all the fresh geniality of mid-May. The newspapers that 
morning betrayed the presentiments of the public with regard to 
this Polish Question. It was well understood that a powerful 
effort would be made to commit France to the hazardous chances 
of a war with the governments of Europe — a war for war's sake 
— a war that would turn the Revolution into a Dictatorship — 
transform the Assembly into a Convention, and cause the Gov- 
ernment to be exercised through Committees of Public Safety, 
while it placed the bourgeoisie at the feet of revolutionary tribu- 
nals. The banner of the Red Republic was to be raised, and 
planted on the ruins of European society. 

There were two parties in the Government, and these two 
parties were called after the newspapers, which, having been the 
instruments of their elevation, became now the organs of their 
policy and opinions. The Reforme pronounced for war ; the 
National for peace. The language of the former, speaking, aa 
was well known, the sentiments of Ledru-Rollin, was well calcu- 
lated to stir up the passions. " The people,"" it said, " could not 
understand the policy of the Government ; the people were in- 
dignant at seeing Poland in blood and tears. Were the people 
to see the promises made at the H6tel-de-Ville evaporate in 
smoke ? They did not desire to sit at ease within their walls, 
enjoying selfishly the benefit of their institutions. There should 
be an armed propaganda ; for a close alliance with all people was 
the great law of French democracy. Hence it was that the 
bulletins from Posen and from Cracow had caused such emotion 
among the masses ; the people wept and blushed. Would the 
Government," it asked in conclusion, " make their Republic 
selfish and cowardly ?" 

The Natimial labored elaborately to show that the Polish 
Question affected Germany more than France. Poland was 
close to Germany, and Germany lay between her and France. 
French legions on the Rhine would stir up the old German preju- 
dices, and they would have to march through a country converted 
into hostility by a rash and precipitate act of intervention. The 



86 MARCH OF THE CLUBS. 

power of democratic ideas to force their own way was repeated 
after M. de Lamartine, and counsel given, which was probably 
derived from the bureau of M. Bastide, that an address should 
go forth from the National Assembly to Germany and Poland, 
impressing on the one the justice of the cause of a violated nation- 
ality, and assuring the other of the sympathies of France. While 
the organs of the two parties in the Government shadowed in the 
press the divisions of the Council Board, the walls of the city 
were covered v/ith proclamations from the Government, calling 
on the people to refrain from those assemblages, which, by dis- 
turbing public tranquillity, were keeping down trade and perpet- 
uating private misery. 

The Clubs, however, had formed their own resolution. They 
assembled at an early hour at the Place de la Bastile, each Club 
following its own standard-bearer, and some time after ten o'clock, 
the procession proceeded on its march. The inhabitants dwelling 
along the whole line of the Boulevards were astonished at the 
spectacle that met their eyes. The banners were, some of them, 
large and tawdry ; all of red silk, with the names of the Clubs 
worked in gold, and adorned with gold fringe. The crowd was 
immense, and marched in regimental order. 

There was the Club of " The Rights of Man," from which 
had issued, a few days before, a truculent manifesto against the 
rich. On another banner was inscribed the title <' Pere Duchesne" 
— the name of Hebert's infamous journal, under the first Revolu- 
tion — a journal written in the slang talk of the lowest people, 
and conceived in the worst spirit of the wildest Demagogueism. 
It would not be easy to call to mind all the names and titles, nor 
is it, indeed, necessary ; for the statistics of brutality have but 
little attraction. It is enough to know the general spirit, for the 
sake of guarding against it. Without prejudice, it may be said 
that worse faces were never beheld than appeared in that crowd, 
whose dream was of 1793, whose God was Robespierre, whose 
symbol was the bonnet-rouge, and whose weapon la sainte guil- 
lotine. 

There were faces which fascinated by their very ugliness — the 
ugliness of brooding minds and callous hearts, filled with diaboli- 



MARCH OF THE CLUBS. 87 

cal passions. At a moment of halt, I was spoken to by a man 
in a blouse, whose cold, glittering eye left an impression, as if a 
snake had nestled in one's bosom. There was that dead smile 
about the mouth, which is the unmistakable seal of villainy. It 
is as the coruscation of corruption compared with the glowing and 
gorgeous fresh sunlight of benevolence and innocence. I was 
relieved when the order to march took him away to join his hiss- 
ing demons of war. 

The fellow who bore the bonnet-rouge, or rather a piece of 
red-painted wood, cut into that shape, was the picture of a human 
brute. He had a small, turned-up nose, and a huge under-jaw, 
with more good humor, however, than others. The standard- 
bearer of the Republicans, who had been wounded in the emeute 
of the Cloitre St. Mery, in 1834, carried his head on one side, 
and looked in that half-sleepy, watching way, given to the pictures 
of Talleyrand. Indeed, he appeared to be a common, coarse copy 
of the cold-blooded original, and was, no doubt, one of the springs 
of the movement. Of a man who was intent on a newspaper, 
all that could be seen of his features, hidden by an immense filthy 
beard, was an occasional glance of a scowling and troubled eye. 
A young man, evidently a leader, was so thin, that his clothes 
hung loosely about him ; but his small, pinched features were 
lighted by a pair of large, wild eyes, indicating the utmost auda- 
city and promptitude. 

The master of the ceremonies sat in a low cabriolet — a fierce 
Revolutionist, a stout fellow, with a thick beard, named Huber ; 
but suffering under indisposition, the effect of long imprisonment. 
It was expected that the procession, on arriving at the Madeleine, 
would have halted, and with an appearance, at least, of respect 
for the Assembly, have sent forward a delegation, as had been 
done by the avant-garde on Saturday. No such thing I They 
marched forward coolly, and with intrepid indifl^erence. The 
bridge facing the Chamber had been occupied by some companies 
of the Garde Mobile, with General Courtais, Commander-in-chief 
of the National Guards, at their head. General Courtais is an 
old man, with a handsome face, whose mingled expression was, 
as before noticed, that of sauciness and levity. Pleasant and 



88 THE CHAMBER INVADED. 

brave, without sense or judgment, was this man ; and with a 
craving after popularity that unfitted him for his post. The 
leaders, who knew their man, dashed forward, whispered into his 
ear some revolutionary freemasonry, all-powerful over the initiated, 
and the Garde Mobile were ordered to draw the bayonets from 
their guns. The bridge was quietly passed : the foremost of the 
party scaled the peristyle of the Chamber, others rushed into the 
doors at all sides, and in a moment the galleries of the Assembly 
were filled to suffocation with a mob that electrified the Senate. 
All the avenues were alike quickly filled. 

This vast mass, vast by comparison with the gallery dimensions 
of the building, formed but the head of the advancing column, the 
main body remaining in ignorance of the capture of the outworks. 
Those that followed, quietly marched along to the entrance at 
the rear, where copious room is afforded by a square, in the 
center of which sits a plaster figure of the Republic, looking like 
all the cold, unimaginative efforts of artists, who believe not in 
Heaven, to give to abstraction a heavenly look, and only serving 
the purposes of moralizing reflection, by standing upon a basement 
which had been destined under Charles X. to a statue of the mar- 
tyred Louis XVI. Around this brittle image marshaled the 
Clubs. The grille had been shut against them, as were all the 
doors, and for some time there was decent patience, until it was 
ascertained that the invasion of the outworks had been carried 
into the heart of the Assembly, when there arose a very laudable 
desire to take part in the triumph, and to wave their banners 
over the vanquished. During the altercation at the grille, a 
shot was fired which caused a terrible panic for a few moments, 
but happily did not lead to serious consequences. It had an elec- 
tric effect, although but for a moment, on the Assembly, and on 
the mob within. That shot never was explained ; no more than 
the shot that on the night of the 23d of February rang the knell 
of the Monarchy. There is reason to suspect that it was sys- 
tematically discharged to provoke retaliation, cause a onelee, and 
justify an overthrow of the Government, by exciting popular 
indignation. By a remarkable coincidence, it happened that 
about the time this shot was fired, a man was seized and made 



THE ASSEMBLY. 



prisoner in the neighborhood of the Pantheon, who was spreading 
the cry that at the National Assembly they were cutting the 
throats of the people. So much for what had passed outside. 
We must now look withm. 

The Assembly had met at twelve o'clock, and as soon as the 
ordinary formalities had been gone through, M. Lacrosse ascended 
the tribune for the purpose of complaining of the conduct of Gen- 
eral Courtais, who had issued a most unwarrantable order of the 
day, informing the National Guards that it was the National 
Assembly that had decided on postponing the second grand fete 
of the Republic. The fact was not so, for all that the Assembly 
had done was to receive an intimation to that effect from the Min- 
ister of the Interior. The circumstance implied, certainly, strange 
levity on the part of the general, and although the fact might 
not, under ordinary circumstances, have been entitled to much 
importance, yet at a moment when efforts were notoriously mak- 
ing to excite the people against the Assembly, it did look suspi- 
cious. In the absence of General Courtais, who at that moment 
was about to commit an indiscretion of a more serious and suspi- 
cious kind, the incident was not long dwelt upon. 

A number of petitions in favor of Poland were then presented. 
At length the regular business of the day commenced by an inter- 
pellation from M. Arago, on the affairs of Italy, which brought 
M. Bastide, Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the tribune. France, 
he said, had inaugurated in Europe the dogma of the Sovereignty 
of the People ; that dogma they desired to see propagated, nor 
would they in fact esteem their own emancipation complete, so 
long as there were nations around them whose people were suffer- 
ing. It would be to the eternal honor of France, he pursued, 
that her people, instead of thinking of their own financial and 
commercial embarrassments, pressed forward in favor of their 
brethren of Italy and of Poland. Yes, they owed aid and assist- 
ance to Governments whose origin was like their own. France, 
by her geographical position and national genius, ought to be at 
the head of a happy confederation of free people. Nevertheless, 
they had no right to go unbidden into other countries. If they 
did so, the prejudices and alarms of nations would be excited by 



90 THE POLISH QUESTION. 

the recollection of former invasions. They should first endeavor 
to reassure the minds of their neighbors, so that they might be 
persuaded that France did not desire any territorial advantages 
for herself They, the French, ought to wait upon their arms, 
ready upon the first invitation to join in the divine work of the 
emancipation of the people. The treaties of Vienna were, to be 
sure, a dead letter ; but he had no doubt that the day was at 
hand when there would be a Congress composed of the repre- 
sentatives of free nations, to regulate, in a sure and permanent 
manner, the relations of countries with one another. The an- 
swer, of which this is the substance, not having satisfied M. 
Arago, M. de Lamartine announced that he would wait for the 
interpellation regarding Poland, to answer both together ; on 
which M. Wolowski ascended the tribune. 

He had not proceeded more than a few sentences, when he 
became agitated and nervous ; shouts of Vive la Pologne ! were 
heard outside from the crowd, that had by this time forced the 
bridge, and from, the light structure of the building — ^being, as 
the reader is aware, composed of wood, and very spacious, the 
shouts sounded as from, a mob within the square on which the 
building was situated. Several m.embers quitted their seats, and 
were rushing out to see what was the matter, when a voice was 
heard distinctly to exclaim : " The duty of the National Assem- 
bly is to be at its post in so grave a circumstance as this." The 
warning was timely, and had the intended effect, for the mem- 
bers of the Assembly, throughout the scene that followed, never 
quitted their seats, and exhibited admirable composure and dignity. 

M. Wolowski endeavored to master his emotion, and proceed- 
ed clearly with his statement, but the attention of his audience 
was otherwise directed, and the shouts of the advancing column, 
increasing more and more, at length enveloped the whole build- 
ing as in a whirlpool of passionate exclamation. M. Degoussee, 
Questor of the Chamber, suddenly entered, and mounting the 
tribune, stood by the side of the advocate of Poland. A mem- 
ber begged of him to get down, and not make a ridiculous scene. 
Now M. Degoussee was just the man to make a ridiculous scene. 
Tall, thin, and somber, with a sepulchral voice, and very cere- 



THE MOB INVASION. n 



monious, he might have been taken for Don Quixote himself; 
but, in truth, he had encountered something more serious than a 
wind-mill. The protection of the Assembly had, he said, been 
assigned to the President and the Questors ; and yet, contrary to 
the orders of the Questors, the Commander-in-chief of the Na- 
tional Guards had ordered the Garde Mobile to sheath their 
bayonets. A murmur of indignation ran through the benches. 
A cry was heard that the " Salle was invaded !" " Summon 
the Commander-in-chief to the bar !" exclaimed a member. 
Clement Thomas, Colonel of the National Guards, rushed to the 
tribune, and made his stentorian voice resound. A considerable 
mass of people, moved by a sentiment of sympathy for Poland, 
had forced their way into the Assembly, in order to present a 
petition. 

Tliis apparent palliation of violence was met by expressions 
of anger, and before the speaker had time to explain his mean- 
ing, the galleries were filled with a wild mob, bearing banners, 
shouting for Poland, and elbowing and thrusting the affrighted 
occupants out of their way. " President, clear the tribune, it is 
your duty I" exclaimed some ; " There is no liberty here I" cried 
others. " Let Clement Thomas take the supreme command of 
the National Guards," boldly proposed M. Dupin. 

Barbes rushed to the tribune, and endeavored to take the 
place of Clement Thomas. Several members hurried to the 
foot of the tribune, calling on Thomas not to give way, and 
Thomas held his ground. He is a fine, tall, handsome fellow, 
with a fair beard, of not very polished mamiers, and a good 
match for Barbes. The National Assembly ought, he said, to 
protest against the violation of which it was the object. At 
this moment, the galleries were filled to sufibcation. Amidst 
the shouts of the Clubs, were heard shrieks from women, al- 
though the greater number, it deserves to be recorded, displayed 
admirable courage and presence of mind. By-and-by the men 
in blouses, and in shabby attire, were seen to drop from the tri- 
bunes into the seats of the members, and before there was time 
for expostulation, the doors were forced open, and the salle was 
filled as by a flood that had burst its dykes. 



92 THE MOB INVASION— RASPAIL. 

It appears that just previous to this invasion, the last fillip had 
been given to the hesitation of the masses, by the appearance of 
Barbes, Albert, and Louis Blanc, bound together by a large flag, 
in a fraternal embrace. This theatrical action, w^ith some appro- 
priate words by Louis Blanc, fired the fancies of the audience, 
who, at this burlesque spectacle, took Louis Blanc on their 
shoulders, and rushed into the salle. 

At the head of the mob appeared Sobrier, Blanqui, Raspail, 
and several other leaders of the Clubs. Louis Blanc addressed 
the Clubs, telling them that, if they wished to have the sacred 
right of petition ratified, they would act with moderation. It 
was Haspail who presented the petition ; but on his mounting 
the tribune, there was a burst of indignant exclamation from the 
Assembly, notwithstanding the menaces employed against mem- 
bers in all directions by the mob, armed with knives and pistols, 
which they openly displayed. One of the invaders stood upon 
the tribune. 

M. Corbon, the editor of the organ of the workmen, called the 
" Atelier," himself formerly a working m.an, left his seat, and 
forcing his way to the chair of the President, took his stand by 
his side, hoping perhaps to save him by his influence, or to share 
his dangers ; and there he stood, showing his dark, mild, thought- 
ful face, in brave serenity. After considerable delay and great 
tumult, Baspail succeeded in reading the petition. Raspail is a 
man of European celebrity as a chemist, although of a somewhat 
spurious kind. He can boast no diplomas or University degrees, 
and is what would be glorious, if regarded as an unfriended con- 
quest over difiiculties of patient force of will— a self-taught man; 
but which, if it signify a presumptuous self-confidence, unwar- 
ranted by extraordinary natural abilities, is only another name 
for what some call him — a quack. 

For a genius who broke a lance with Orfila, on a point in 
which Orfila is an authority, that of arsenic — which Baspail said 
could be found of itself in the human body, or in old chairs and 
tables, and so protested against Orfila's evidence in the case of 
Madame Lafarge, on whose testimony she was condemned for 
having poisoned her husband — (into what pleasant by-paths of 



RASPAIL— BLANQUI. 93 



parentliesis are we not occasionally diverted I) — for so bold a 
genius, it has to be recorded, that liis name is not associated with 
any higher discovery than that of camphor for migraines, and 
camphor substitutes for cigars. He is a bold man, however, this 
Raspail, and headed a mob, determined to overthrow the Pro- 
visional Government when there was a whisper of backing into 
a regency. Like Marat, he lived among the Faubourgians of 
the left bank of the Seine, and set np a journal, which he called, 
after that of the victim of Charlotte Corday, L' Ami clu Pcuple. 
Such was the man who audaciously usurped the tribune of the 
National Assembly, from which he fulminated a decree for war, 
conveyed in the affected guise of a petition. As soon as it was 
read, the President was about to signify that it should be referred 
to the proper bureau, but he could not make himself heard in the 
deafening confusion. 

Barbes joined his efforts to those who sought to have the salle 
cleared, now that the right of petition had been recognized, and 
that the people had defiled before the Assembly ; but while the 
tribune was crowded, and the galleries were cracking (it is sur- 
prising how they held together), and the Clubs were marching, 
and the representatives were receiving insults, menaces, and even 
blows, while weapons were brandished about, and while wanton 
strokes, as if of hamm^ers, suggested the fear that there were some 
diabolical enough to endeavor to knock away the supports from 
the great wooden shed itself, the famous Club-leader, Blanqui, 
was fairly lifted over the heads of the crowd into the tribune, 
not to talk of Poland, but of a more intensely exciting subject, 
that of the miseries of the people. 

Blanqui, like Barbes, was an old conspirator, and bore, like 
him, that unmistakable clay-cold color, which is communicated 
by the constant presence of the prison wall. His features, when 
examined, were spirited and regular ; a long, thin face, high 
nose, and high, but narrow forehead, such as marks men of en- 
terprise rather than thought. But there invested the whole 
countenance a sardonic expression — an intense enjoyment of mis- 
chief — that would have formed a model for a Mephistophiles 
This man had founded, in June, 1835, the secret society called 



94 BLANQUI. 

Ves Families, which merged subsequently into that of Des Sai- 
sons. He had known Pepin, who was executed for the part he 
had taken in the Fieschi massacre, and had been apprized in the 
morning of that fearful attempt, by Pepin himself, of the inten- 
tion to fire an infernal machine. Blanqui was the leader of the 
emeute of the 12th of May, in which Barbes covered himself 
with infamy by that cold-blooded assassination of an officer, to 
which reference has been already made. Over this Blanqui there 
hung a cloud of suspicion. In the archives of the police had 
been found by the Provisional Government, a paper, giving the 
history and composition, the designs, attempts, and causes of 
failures of the conspirators' agents and followers ; and it was 
concluded that Blanqui had furnished this confession to the Gov- 
ernment of Louis-Philippe, for the purpose of having his own 
life spared, and the rigors of his confinement mitigated. The 
Provisional Government knew so well the dangerous power of 
Blanqui, that, in order to destroy his influence, they gave it to 
the " Revue Retrospective." The paper produced an immense 
sensation ; but Blanqui protested with such energy that the whole 
had been concocted to ruin so great a patriot, that he contrived 
to maintain a certain leadership. The consciousness that he was 
not wholly trusted made him more desperate, and it would not 
be going too far to assert that this man, in whose heart, accord- 
ing to the energetic expression of Ledru-Rollin, was not blood but 
gall, was capable of equaling the most bloody prototype that 
could be found in the revolutionary list, from Marat to Couthon. 
Such was the man who had been lifted into the tribune. He 
began, in his dry, caustic voice, by an allusion to the massacres 
of Rouen ; but, as if the thread of his discourse had been broken 
by the wild shout of execration the allusion had raised, he turned 
to the subject of the miseries of the people ; and his words being 
lost again in the shouts and tumult, he took up the cause of 
Poland, and demanded an immediate decree that France should 
not return her sword to the sheath until Poland had been re- 
established. 

This speech was followed by frightful tumult. Ledru-Rollin 
at length obtained, if not silence, a mitigation of the fury. He 



DEMANDS OF THE MOB. 95 



declared, that he did not appear as a member of the Govern- 
ment, but as a simple representative. He assured them that 
their feelings for Poland found an echo in his heart ; he also re- 
sponded to their wishes regarding the claims of labor. He flat- 
tered the people on account of their good sense, prudence, etc., 
and got himself insulted for his pains ; for he was told that he 
betrayed the people on the 1 7th of March. He would propose, 
he said, that the Assembly should declare itself en permanence, 
on condition that the people should retire. Some cried "Yes," 
and some cried "No." Many demanded the formation of a 
Ministry of Labor. Some said, " Let us retire ;" and some 
menacingly demanded an immediate answer to their demands. 
Raspail and Blanqui endeavored to make the people withdraw. 
Huber shouted that th«y would withdraw, but that they would 
defile two by two, so that the Assembly should see that 300,000 
citizens were watching them. An artillery officer, with drawn 
sword, leading half-a-dozen fellows, took his station behind the 
President, whom he treated as a prisoner. The President refused 
peremptorily to adjourn the Assembly ; for he clearly saw that, 
if he did so, the mob would remain, and declare the Government 
dissolved. 

Barbes, who until this moment had tried to soothe the people, 
now lost his self-possession, and fulminated the wildest proposi- 
tions : an immediate army for Poland, and a forced contribution 
of a milliard on the rich. A shout of exultation hailed the 
latter proposition. The mob began to dance and cut capers — 
some bellowing for two hours' leave of pillage of Paris. At this 
moment drums were heard beating outside, which raised the 
excitement to frenzy. " Whoever beats the rappel,"" shouted 
Barbes, amid roars of applause, " is a traitor I" The President, 
encouraged by the approach of succor, made his voice heard : — 
" I order you," said he, " to leave, and allow the Assembly to 
deliberate." Fists were shaken at him, and he was threateningly 
told to hold his tongue ; still he repeated the order. One shout- 
ed for the organization of labor. Huber shouted for the deJUe ; 
while Raspail labored to induce the mob to retire. " I will 
have no more to do with you," shouted he, " if you do not vacate 



96 TUMULT AT ITS HEIGHT. 

the sailed Still the shouts for a Ministry of Labor — for Louis 
Blanc, who had been seized and carried in triumph — ^for ven- 
geance on the murderers of the people of Rouen — for Poland — 
arose, while the drums were heard to beat nearer and nearer. 

The President was threatened with summary vengeance if he 
did not order the rappel to cease. It was then half-past three 
o'clock, at which time a whisper was given to the President that 
he would have relief within a quarter of an hour. The Pres- 
ident, in order to borrow time, affected to give the order to stop 
the rappel ; and, had he not done so, he might have been mur- 
dered. Louis Blanc, having undergone a triumphant ovation, 
was now placed standing upon a table within the $,alle. A sud- 
den cry that the galleries were giving way sobered the mob for a 
moment, but only for a moment ; for the fury was revived by the 
red flag of the Jacobins being brought in, surmounted by a piece 
of crape. At this moment, Huber, who from, exhaustion had 
fainted, and lain in the front for half an hour, rushed forward, 
seized the drapeau rouge, and, waving it, declared the National 
Assembly dissolved. Some, stricken with an act of audacity 
that went beyond their intentions, shouted "No, no!" But 
there was only a glimmer of sense now. The excitement grew 
beyond all bounds. A piece of paper was conveyed on a pike to 
Huber, who was shaking his fist at the President. He took the 
paper ; it was a decree, drawn up in form, for the dissolution of 
the Provisional Government. At this moment the President 
was turned out of his seat, which was taken by the artillery offi- 
cer before-noticed ; before whom, was raised a standard, with the 
bonnet rouge, by a man who held a drawn sword ; and Pres- 
ident, Vice-President, and Secretaries retired, followed by several 
members. On seeing this, one proposed that the representatives 
who left should be declared traitors to their country. Several 
read lists of names which they proposed as members of the Pro- 
visional Government. A general shout was raised, " To the 
H6tel-de-Ville I" and '' Aux amies!" At this moment, while 
they were squabbling about the names of the Provisional Gov- 
ernment, the drums were heard. A cloud seemed to have filled 
the place, caused by the steam that arose from the dense and 



HOTEL-DE-VILLE INVADED. !)7 

heated mass, and gave the finisliing hue to so sinister a scene. 
The Garde Mobile suddenly entered, with fixed hayonets ; and, 
as if by magic, the salle was cleared of the panic-stricken mob. 
To the Hotel-do- Ville they went, proclaiming that the National 
Assembly was dissolved, and that a new Revolution had been 
efiected. So like was the manner of its accomplishment to that 
of the Revolution of February, by a sudden invasion of the 
Chamber, that the report was believed ; and so paralyzed were 
the National Guards at the H6tel-de- Ville, that the insurgents 
encountered very little resistance as they entered the building, 
which has ever been regarded as the head-quarters of new gov- 
ernments. The conspirators were now seated in a room of the 
H6tel-de- Ville, which they deemed in their possession. From the 
windows they were throwing slips of paper with the names of 
the Provisional Government, which, strange to say, differed from 
one another — showing hasty and divided councils — ^but all agree- 
ing with respect to some names, enough to make the blood of the 
citizens freeze with horror — when there set forth as strange an 
expedition from a house in the Rue de Rivoli as ever occurred in 
a civilized city. At No. 1 6 in that street there is a house, which, 
as it commands some windows of the Tuileries, had been pur- 
chased by the Intendant of the Civil List, that it might not be- 
come a den of conspirators. As the property of the Crown, it 
became spoil for the Republicans, and was taken possession of by 
M. Sobrier, who, not having the Prefecture of Police all to him- 
self, set up on his own account an independent authority. This 
house Sobrier turned into a fortress, which he garrisoned with a 
hundred Mo?itag?ianh, who followed the fortunes of so hardy an 
adventurer. He filled the cellars with arms and ammunition ; 
and, so far from making any secret of his proceedings, he called 
on his old chum, Caussidicre, for supplies, and got them. 

Sobrier, a man of talent — and, if M. de Lamartinc be not 
yielding to his amiable credulity, a man of religious enthusiasm, 
full of the poetry and passion of revolutionary idealism — issued a 
newspaper from his fortress, called the Comnmne de Paris, and 
it would be hard to say whether this paper, or the aspect of the 
wild and savage sentinels, in their red sashes, holding guard over 

E 



98 SOBRIER— PARIS IN A PANIC. 



tlieir mysterious magazine, inspired more anxiety. There were 
strano-e whispers about the doings inside. It was said, that, in- 
dulging in some drunken freak one night, a body of myrmidons 
seized on passers by, bandaged their eyes, and led them before a 
revolutionary tribunal, at which the future Coffinhals of a coming 
Reign of Terror were rehearsing their parts. After a severe 
warning against bourgeois selfishness, the prisoners were released, 
with a hint to hold their tongues. 

So soon as it was announced that the National Assembly was 
dissolved, Sobrier, who had been disappointed at not being made 
Minister of Police in February, determined to secure for himself, 
by the laws of conquest, the Ministry of the Interior, and he 
marched, at the head of his expedition, against the magnificent 
seat of the Home Department, in the Faubourg St. Germain. 
Had he succeeded, the telegraph would have been in the hands 
of the insurgents, and the provinces kept in the dark ; for, at the 
samQ moment, another expedition was organizing by an ambitious 
Postmaster-General. Sobrier failed, and was m.ade prisoner ; the 
energetic Etienne Arago protected the Post-Office, and the prov- 
inces were saved from alarm. 

While lists of a Provisional Government were emanating from 
the H6tel-de-Ville, and while the National Guards were assem- 
bling in the most resolute manner, as yet ignorant of the true 
state of things, the people of Paris were in the wildest alarm : 
the Boulevards were filled with people, the evening was beauti- 
ful, the whole population were out of doors, and in groups, ask- 
ing what was the news ? For half an hour it was believed that 
the Government was overthrown, and that men were standing 
on the brink of a massacre ; all were heart-sick ; but said that it 
could not last, for the provinces would march on Paris. What ! 
Barbes, the assassin ; and Blanqui, the desperate conspirator ; and 
Louis Blanc, the Communist ; and Uaspail, the quack ; Caus- 
sidiere, and Ledru-Bollin, masters of France I It could not 
be ! But what misery might not be pressed into even a little 
week by such men ! The masses of National Guards marching 
from all sides toward the National Assembly, and looking so 
thoughtful and resolute, inspired confidence ; and before an hour 



THE ASSEMBLY— NATIONAL GUARDS. 99 

had elapsed from the period of the announcement that a revolution 
had been accomplished, the gladdening intelligence was circulated 
that the traitors were arrested. 

Let us return to the Assembly. As soon as the salle was 
cleared of the mob, M. Duclerc at once took the chair of the 
President, and announced, amidst loud cheers, that the Assembly 
was not dissolved, and would resume its proceedings. At this 
moment, General Courtais, in his uniform of Commander-in- 
Chief of the National Guards, entered, and was received with 
every mark of indignity ; his epaulets were torn oiF, he was call- 
ed a traitor, and but for the interference of some members, who 
took him away, might have suffered severely from the enraged 
National Guards. M. Corbon, who had behaved so well during 
the trying scene that had preceded, now took the chair as Vice- 
President ; and Clement Thomas, in his uniform of Colonel of 
National Guards, entered, and as his hand was bleeding from a 
wound received in defending the Assembly, he was received with 
enthusiasm. He announced that the Assembly was under the 
protection of the National Guards, with the command of which 
he had just been invested. 

M. de Lamartine now entered. During the invasion by the 
mob he had been observed to sit for a while on his seat, com- 
posed and tranquil as usual, but profoundly saddened. How his 
illusions must have been shattered I He did not allow himself to 
remain long under such impressions, but disengaged himself from 
the mob, and set about active duty. On his return he was hailed 
with cordial cheers, and, having proposed resolutions of thanks to 
the National Guards, he proceeded to state that the conspirators 
were, at that moment, at the H6tel-de-Ville, endeavoring to form 
a Government. " At such a moment," he added, " the Govern- 
ment is no longer in Council — the Government, Citizen National 
Guards, is at your head — it is at your head in the street, or, if 
necessary, in the field of battle." 

This speech was received with acclamation by the National 
Guards, now occupying the salle and the galleries, and every 
vacant spot. " Comrades, to the H6tcl-de-Ville I" became the 
cry. The drums beat. Lamartine and Ledru-RoUin left the 



100 EXCITEMENT IN THE ASSEMBLY—OUT OF DOORS. 

Assembly, and having mounted horses, proceeded to what they 
expected to find a scene of battle ; but at that moment the traitors 
were in the hands of justice, and Lamartine enjoyed his last ovation. 
The Assembly was declared in permanence. A confused and irreg- 
ular discussion ensued on the profanation to which the Assembly had 
been subjected. Every half hour some angry or indignant speak- 
er would be interrupted with fragments of intelligence : " Barbes, 
Blanqui, Raspail, and General Courtais had been arrested I" " In- 
telligence had been sent through the telegraph to all parts of the 
country that the Assembly had been invaded ; but that order had 
been restored." " The regular departure of the mails had been se- 
cured." " Sobrier had been taken." Then the Procureur-Gen- 
eral applied for the sanction of the Assembly to the arrest of its 
members, Barbes, Albert, and Courtais ; and this was followed 
by long debates on the powers of the Assembly. Lamartine re- 
appeared, announcing that the conspiracy had been destroyed. At 
length Louis Blanc entered, and was received with no less indig- 
nity than Courtais. He asserted his innocence, yet announced 
that he sympathized with the object of the demonstration ; apol- 
ogized for the conduct of his friends, Barbes and Blanqui ; but 
was obliged to cut short explanations that every moment were 
interrupted by expressions of anger. In this excited way the 
Assembly sat until nine o'clock, when it adjourned to the follow- 
ing morning. 

At this time the scene out of doors was singularly animated. 
The National Guards were all under arms ; and wherever a de- 
tachment was met, it was cheered by the people, which cheers 
would be returned by shouts of "Vive la Reptiblique I'' The 
National Guards, conscious that they had done the state some 
service, were happy, and, like truly happy persons, not revenge- 
fully disposed. The shocked and frightened people were not in 
quite so kindly a mood ; and had the National Guards taken 
them prisoners, tried them by Court-Martial, and dealt with them 
summarily, they would have only responded to the impulses of 
the moment. That they contented themselves with handing 
over the insurgent leaders to justice speaks well for a body against 
which had so long been directed the malice of the Clubs. There 



VIEWS OF THE LEADERS. 101 

was no possibility of approaching the H6tel-de-Ville, where the 
prisoners were, all the avenues being blocked up with the armed 
civic legions. Many inhabitants of houses in the neighborhood 
illuminated their windows, in testimony of their joy at the great 
deliverance of the Republic from so imminent and fearful a danger. 

It remains now to be asked — whether the occurrence of the 
day was the result of a premeditated design ? Had it been so, 
would not preparations have been made to follow it up ? It is 
certain, that many who had joined the procession were not at all 
aware that it was to have been more than a demonstration in 
favor of Poland. The National Guards, who had come up from 
the provinces to assist at the ceremonial appointed for the day 
preceding, helped to swell the procession, and they assuredly har- 
bored no design against the Assembly. On the other hand, how 
explain the written decree put into Huber's hand for the dissolu- 
tion of the Assembly ? How explain the march of Sobrier on 
the Ministry of the Interior ? How explain the documents foimd 
at his house, consisting of decrees prepared for promulgation on 
the Government being overthrown ; and among which was a 
very remarkable one, stating, among other considerations why the 
Assembly was dissolved, " that the people, going peaceably with 
a petition in favor of Poland had been fired upon." 

The attack of the 15th of May was the third of the kind. 
There was one on the 17th of March, which failed, because the 
great mass of the persons composing the procession to the Hotel- 
de-Ville, were in ignorance of the intention of their leaders. The 
attempt of the 16th of April failed, because the plot having got 
wind. General Changarnier, Avith wonderful promptitude, called 
out the National Guards. Ignorance on the part of the mass, 
of the intention of the leaders, affords no presumption of absence 
of design. It is to be presumed, rather, that the leaders were not 
agreed among themselves, and that because they were jealous and 
suspicious of each other. Sobrier, it can hardly be doubted, was 
prepared to push for an overthrow of the Assembly, and for the 
re-establishment of 1794 in its integrity, Dictatorship, Pi^evolution- 
ary Tribunals, Committee of Public Safety, War, and all : so was 
Ruber. Raspail was evidently not prepared to go so far. BarbeS 



102 THE MONTAGNARDS— CAUSSIDIERE. 

was hurried by the impetuosity of the torrent into a premature 
line of conduct. Louis Blanc would have been satisfied had the 
right of petition been established, as it was understood at the 
time of the Convention ; namely, the right of the people to march 
to the Assembly, and dictate its wishes. This being established, 
the real power would have lain with the Clubs, while the Assem- 
bly would have afibrded the decency of legislative form. At the 
same moment, his desired " Ministry of Labor and Progress" 
would have been extorted, and he and Albert made Cabinet Min- 
isters, and the real governing power of a Socialist-Communist 
administration. 

The matter having gone beyond his intention, his subsequent 
conduct was marked with hesitation. He buzzed about the 
H6tel-de-Ville, as a moth round a taper ; but whether he dropped 
down to the Council Board with Barbes and Blanqui, is a dis- 
puted point. He denies that he did ; but there is positive con- 
tradiction of his word by a Colonel of National Guards, who says 
he saw him ; yet he might have been mistaken. There is reason 
to believe that the levity or treason at the head of the National 
Guards, the treason at the Assembly, perhaps the ready treason 
at the Council Board, was also lying in waiting at the Prefecture 
of Police. 

On the approach of the insurgents to the H6tel-de-Ville, the 
Montagnards of the Prefecture, as if by common accord, drew 
out each man a red sash, which he flourished about his head, and 
then girded round his body. M. Caussidiere, the Prefect, of 
course, knew nothing of the traitorous disposition of his body- 
guard, and of their intentions to support the coming Dictatorship 
of Barbes, Blanqui and Sobrier, with the aid of Baspail, Cabet, 
There and Proudhon. He, poor man, lay ill in bed ; but not so 
ill as to prevent our having the pleasure of describing his appear- 
ance the next day at the tribune of the National Assembly. 



CHAPTER X. 

IRRITATION OF THE ASSEIMBLY MARC CAUSSIDIERE SURRENDER 

OF THE PREFECTURE OF POLICE M. DUCOUX LUCIEN MURAT. 

The appearance of the Assembly on Tuesday, the 1 6th, was 
somber, agitated, and irritable. A corporate body feels precisely 
like an individual. This body had been outraged in its own 
house ; and although it had courageously looked the armed ruffian 
in the face, and maintained a decent air of composure, while a 
trusty servant was fetching the police, it felt, nevertheless, a sense 
of humiliation. Poor Louis XVI. felt not more overwhelmed 
with grief and shame when, on a similar invasion of his palace 
of the Tuileries, sixty years before, the bonnet-rouge had been 
mockingly placed on his head. It was not on the head of buffeted 
and doomed monarchy that the sign of martyrdom was now 
thrown. It was not even on law and legislation that sentence 
of death was passed by a mob, when an armed artilleryman took 
the chair of the ejected President, under the shadow of the mock 
Phrygian cap. No, worse again : it was society, as constituted 
among civilized man, that was destined to perish in a whirlwind 
of anarchy. Heligion, rule, legislation, and law, with family and 
property, were to have gone together. Civilization would have 
disappeared, and cities given place to a desolate wilderness, for 
the tiger, the monkey, and the serpent — for blood, lust, and grov- 
eling debasement. 

The irritation of the Assembly broke out at once, and was 
manifested in a series of sharp interrogations, addressed to the 
President, relative to his having issued an order not to have the 
rajp'pel beaten. His explanation was, that he did so to gain 
time, as he knew that in a quarter of an hour more relief would 
arrive. The explanation was met with expressions of anger and 
affected contempt, which were hardly deserved. M. Garnier 
Pages gave a better direction to the excitement, by announcing 
the arrest of the leading conspirators, and detailing the measures 



104 CAUSSIDIERE. 



that had been taken for the preservation of order. Anger was 
again excited, when it was told that the rioters arrested by the 
National Guards were liberated by the police, while the Garde 
Repuhlicai7ie, a new police force, were manifesting what their 
feelings were by shouting " Vive Barhes /" " Why was not 
Caussidiere, the Prefect of Police, in his place to explain such 
conduct ?" If he was not there, Lamartine was, to vindicate 
his conduct, and answer for the loyalty of his intentions. Lamar- 
tine the apologist of Caussidiere ! A deep whisper ran from 
bench to bench. Lamartine had given a stab to his own repu- 
tation. Already had he suffered by his obstinate adherence to 
Ledru-Rollin ; he now suffered infinitely more by his marked 
protection of Caussidiere. M. Baroche, an advocate of eminence, 
declared openly that the Assembly saw with dissatisfaction such 
a man at the head of the police. But an indescribable sensation 
was produced when M. de Mornay rose and affirmed that Huber, 
the man who had pronounced the dissolution of the Assembly 
had been released from arrest ; and not only Huber, but Blanqui, 
had been arrested, and afterward set free. At length, Caussi- 
diere appeared, and as he limped, or affected to limp, to the 
tribune, the Assembly assumed an aspect, which it was impossi- 
ble to mistake ; it was that of profound distrust, mingled with 
aversion. 

Marc Caussidiere is a study. Even in so thickly clustering a 
gallery of revolutionary portraits, he stands out alone. He is the 
melo-dramatic hero of the Revolution ; a sort of Grindoff, such 
as we recollect to have taken in our boyish days as the type of 
pleasant picturesque ferocity, in that perfect mockery of the unities 
called the " Miller and his Men." Perhaps it is the hat that 
suggests Grindoff; for Caussidiere, has inaugurated a broad- 
brimmed, slouched beaver, with a high-peaked crown, around 
which there ought, for sake of perfection, to curl a red feather. 
This hat was not chosen out of indulgence of a capricious taste ; 
it was the rallying sign of the chief of a new-hatted party, to 
which it was to be in the day of battle as the white 'pmiache of 
Henry IV. at Ivry. As Caussidiere is a tall man, the hat added 
to his height, and he looked, as he desired, remarkable. 



CAUSSIDIERE. 105 



This tribune of the people — whose soul lay with the very- 
poorest of the poor ; who had himself in that weary chase after 
a calling, so often the lot of men, who brought up to no honest 
business, are afforded the opportunity of displaying a versatile 
aptitude for all — from coaxing orders for goods or advertisements, 
to any thing witliin the range of the world of politics, from the 
premiership to the police — this now emancipated man from the 
galling chain of want, bedecked his ample person in the gewgaws 
of the newest fashions. The best dressed, most varnish-booted, 
white-waistcoated and fancy-cravated man on town, was the 
great champion of the Repiiblique Democratique et Sociale. 
Like George in the opening chapter of Kenilworth, he might 
enact the gentleman as he pleased, but under all the ci-devant 
coiiunis-voyageur was present. The head of the man is set on a 
short thick neck, which, with the low brow, looked animal-like 
and sensual. He, of all the fierce democrats, wore no beard, 
because his satiny, soft, florid cheek, could not put forth so Ori- 
ental an appendage in sufficiently becoming luxuriousness. Be- 
sides, this hero was not a man of half-measures ; he would be 
bearded like the Grand Turk, or not bearded at all. The artful, 
yet daring soul, looked through a sly, watchful eye — the eye of 
the crouching leopard. So much for the external man, which 
pictured harmoniously the inner. The mind was well supplied 
with samples of all kinds of knowledge, and exhibited with the 
incoherent profusion of an agent pressed for time in pursuit of 
customers. He seemed to have picked up some loose scraps of 
the heathen mythology, some disjointed axioms of moral and 
political philosophy, with a copious capital of slang, which he 
did his best to hide under the choicest Arabesque imagery, but 
which would ever keep oozing out, like damp from mortar., 'n 
which had mingled sea-sand. Like another chief to whom he 
bore a sort of resemblance, for he might be called the Pwob E.oy 
of the Faubourgs, he would, when excited, drop into the real 
emphasis of his native dialect ; and even the imposing aspect of 
the National Assembly could not restrain Caussidierc from a 
rolling fire of sacres that would rival a Gallic driver exercising 
his brutality on a horse ; for of all men, the French drivers are 



106 CAUSSIDIERE. 



the most cruel to their animals. As a specimen of style to 
which no description could do justice, we need only repeat one 
conciliatory adjuration from Caussidiere, when collapsing into 
softness : " Let us put our differences into a sack, and throw 
them into the River Lethe." Perhaps we should add a profound 
political reflection in favor of brilliantly illustrated emigration : 
" That society was like a bladder, and when too full will burst." 
A man so active and so accomplished, whose pen and sword 
made him a Faubourgian Csesar, ran through all the casualties 
of a life devoted to the working classes, through the effective 
principles of conspiracy. He had been tried and imprisoned, and 
when let out, returned to wallowing in the mire. He was one 
of the Council that sat at the Reforme, on the night of the 23d 
of February, and voted for battle. The victory was such as 
surpassed the wildest expectations or the deepest calculations, 
and Caussidiere won with his good sword the Prefecture of 
Police. Installed there, he set about the erection of a Prsetorian 
Guard of his own, who took the name of Garde Republicaine, 
acknowledged no allegiance to any but their Chief, and amused 
their leisure hours doing police duties in the way we have seen, 
by letting loose such " falsely" accused prisoners as Huber and 
Blanqui, until Marc should sound the signal for the Republique 
JDemocratique et Sociale. 

Such was the man, who, like an overgrown hexameter or 
wounded snake, or sea-sick serpent, dragged his slow length along 
to the tribune. His exordium dropped so languidly, like thawing 
honey, that cries of plus haul ! rose from all sides. He apolo- 
gized for a throat that had been hoarse for two months, which as 
he naively added, was not his fault ; and then he ran through a 
detail of the services he had rendered the State, which was not 
wanting in terseness and vigor. He reminded the Assembly of 
the rapidity, and indeed it was marvelous, with which order had 
been restored in February. Within three days the barricades 
had been taken down, and the streets repaired ; the markets 
were supplied through his means ; the price of bread and of all 
necessaries kept down ; robbery, assassination and incendiarism 
prevented ; gaming-houses closed ; and that through the agency 



CAUSSIDIERE. 10/ 



of dangerous men. He had, to use an expression, which although 
it has been severely criticised, was no bad antithesis, "made 
order with disorder ;" he had no other than a disorderly instru- 
ment in his hands, and with it he did do good in the first instance, 
at the same time that it was felt how little such an instrument 
could be depended upon for any time. Tt might have proved an 
Aaron's rod, that having swallowed up all other rods, would 
become no longer a rod of Justice, but a scourge for society. 
Having, however, cleared the ground of defense, he turned ac- 
cuser, and proclaimed aloud that he had demanded authority to 
arrest Blanqui, the leader of the conspirators, and was refused. 
So far so good ; but when he stated his own plan for preventing 
what had taken place, namely, that he would have moved for a 
deputation of members of the Assembly to go outside and address 
the people, while a deputation from the people should come in 
and address their petition to the Assembly, the dissatisfaction 
of the majority broke out in loud murmurs against so accommo- 
dating a Minister of Police. 

Finding he had touched on dangerous ground, he artfully re- 
turned to his accusation against the Executive, who had reduced 
him to the part of a mere gens-cVarme. The Procureur- Gen- 
eral, as if stung by the accusation, retorted by repeating the 
charge, that at the Prefecture of PoUce, the rioters had been 
liberated, while the policemen wore the homiet-rouge. It was 
in vain that Caussidiere could struggle against such an exposure, 
by pleading that his policy was one of conciliation, and that he 
was keeping order with disorder. M. Baroux exposed the exist- 
ence of a fortress in the Rue de Rivoli, by the connivance of the 
police, and Caussidiere openly defended Sobrier. A letter was 
produced, describing the seizure of ammunition and arms at this 
house, which caused much agitation of feeling, until Caussidiere, 
pressed on all sides, roared forth a mere bleu, that set the seal to 
the impression made by his explanations. 

Much of the romantic interest of this day's proceedings would 
be lost if we did not mention, that while Caussidiere, like a stag 
at bay, was butting at the angry pack of interlocutors and cross- 
examiners, by whom the flowing elegance of his discourse was 



108 DUGOUX— LUCIEN MURAT. 

broken into the fragmentary, but more lively dashes of dramatic 
dialogue, there hung over the whole the mystery of a siege and 
battle at the Prefecture. Many an ear thought it had heard 
cannon, and some looked for an explosion in the same direction. 
The Minister of Finance was about taking up the gauntlet in 
defense of the Government, when M. Favre announced that the 
Prefecture was in the hands of the National Guards and the 
troops. " You are completely in error," firmly interrupted a 
bold voice. " The Prefecture of Police," retorted M. Favre, 
considerably modifying his information, " is occupied by the Na- 
tional Guard and by La Garde Republicaine.'''' That altered 
the matter ; there was a compromise ; the Montagnards had 
made their own conditions. The Minister of the Interior now 
arrived, and announced that the Prefecture of Police was in the 
hands of the National Guards and the troops. Caussidiere then 
rose, and angrily declaring that having just heard that cannon 
had \ieQn. pointed against the Prefecture, he gave in his resigna- 
tion. The fact was not so : nevertheless, the manner of the 
resignation was too good a coup-de-theatre to spoil ; the Prefect 
was out, and the Assembly too well pleased to call him back. 

The ordinary business of the day was then resumed ; it re- 
lated to the national regulation of the Assembly in the matter 
of its debates ; and, after some progress had been made, the 
sententiousness of parliamentary debate was turned into drama 
by the abrupt appearance of M. Ducoux, a fat, fussy, round- 
built man, with a fat round face, a fat round nose, and a big 
round voice. As an ex-veterinary surgeon, he was a better 
horseman than most Frenchmen are, and so he had been, e7i 
amateur, on a tour of inspection. He found at the Prefecture 
only one hundred and thirty men of the Garde Kepuhlicaine ; 
the rest, composing a force of fifteen hundred men, were dissem- 
inated in barracks. The Montagnards were in the Caserne St. 
Victor. The son of Murat appeared now at the tribune for the 
first time, and his appearance naturally excited much interest. 
He is an exceedingly large man, very tall, and very corpulent, 
and in no other respect remarkable. He came to recount an 
^^dventure that had aJmost provecl fatal. He had been to the 



LUCIEN MURAT. 109 



Prefecture, which he had found guarded by only fifty-three Na- 
tional Guards. He had parleyed Mdth the commander of the 
Republican Guard, with whom he had remonstrated on the folly 
of a resistance that would cause French blood to flow. He in- 
voked him to a surrender which could imply no dishonor. The 
answer was, " Without Caussidiere's order, we never will sur- 
render : we number fifteen hundred." Murat answered, " I 
will return to the Assembly, and procure an order from Caussi- 
diere." '-Never!" returned the officer, "unless he gives the 
order in person." Murat, however, resolved on going back to 
the Chamber, where he expected to find Caussidiere under ar- 
rest ; and as he approached a legion of National Guards, he 
happened to be mistaken, of all men in the world, for Caussidiere 
himself; and such was the rage which the presence of the sup- 
posed Prefect inspired, that a sword was at his breast, and would 
have been passed through his body, had not a voice exclaimed at 
the moment, " C'es,t Murat T 

Here, then, was a distinct statement, that fifteen hundred 
desperadoes held the Prefecture of Pohce. Seeing that an mi- 
pleasant altercation was likely to arise, some members inter- 
fered, and the order of the day was resumed. Before the close 
of the regular business of the day, the state of the Prefecture 
was again brought in by a more reassuring report, and the As- 
sembly adjourned. 



CHAPTER XI. 



A STORMY SITTING. 



The sitting of Wednesday, the 1 7th, need not detain us long. 
It was confused, boisterous, and self-damaging ; and, viewed in 
that respect, suffered in general estimation ; a sad circumstance, 
at a moment when the Assembly was the sole governing power. 
Let us make a rapid resitme of the day's proceedings. The 
resignation of Caussidiere was received, put from the chair, and 
accepted, and his successor named — M. Trouve Chauvel. The 
Garde Republicaine was declared to be disbanded, and an ap- 
pointment announced, of which the Assembly were far from 
divining the importance — that of General Cavaignac to be Min- 
ister of War. Exceptional laws were presented affecting the 
Clubs — exceptional laws presented by the Ministry of the Re- 
public, within a dozen days from the meeting of the Assembly I 
A law for the exclusion of the Ex-Royal Family of France from 
the territories of the Republic was presented. The Minister of 
Finance presented a bill for the resumption of railways by the 
State. The Minister of Public Works asked for a grant for 
the national ateliers, where the number of hands employed on 
unprofitable labor had swelled from eighty thousand to one 
hundred and fifteen thousand. All these were presented as 
of urgency, and were suggestive enough of a hapless state of 
society. 

The confusion that prevailed throughout the day was raised 
to a perfect storm, when M. Favre undertook to admonish the 
Assembly, saying, " This sitting must finish in a dignified and 
proper manner. The systematic disorder in which the Assembly 
seems to take pleasure must have an end : you must and you 
shall hear me." The admonition might be well-founded ; but 
in the mouth of a young man, of singularly arrogant and pre- 



STORMY SITTING. Ill 



sumptuous bearing, it excited universal anger. The members 
rose, as by common accord, from their seats — plunged into the 
center of the salle — rushed toward the tribune, about which the 
angry stream foamed as about a rock. The President put on his 
hat, and the sitting was suspended, until calm was restored, 
when the astounded Favre offered an apology. 



CHAPTER XII. 

LUGUBRIOUS MISCELLANIES M. DUPIN. 

Opening with lugubrious communications, and then faUing- 
into noise and confusion, so passed the sitting of Thursday, the 
1 8th. A body of National Guards had entered an armed Club, 
situated in a passage in the Hue Faubourg St. Martin ; the 
lights were suddenly extinguished, with the exception of one of gas, 
which flamed forgotten or unobserved, or was allowed to remain 
as a lure ; the members had disappeared ; the National Guard 
began a search, were fired upon, and some were killed. The 
funeral of the victims was to take place at three o'clock, and a 
letter to the Assembly asked for a deputation to do honor to 
these martyrs in the cause of society. 

Another communication related to the town of Limoges, 
where a collision had taken place, caused by the Communist 
manoeuvres. This town was described to be a focus of Com- 
munism. A proclamation, expressive of the thanks of the 
Assembly to the National Guards and the people, for their 
conduct on Monday, gave rise to such a Babel of sounds, that 
the President at one moment declared his strength was ex- 
hausted. M. Dupin extricated the unfortunate proclamation, 
by a timely suggestion to allow it to be returned to the Com- 
mittee for correction ; and, in due time, it was corrected accord- 
ingly. 

M. Dupin comes so frequently to the rescue, and with such 
success, that a word is due to so prominent an actor on the 
affitated scene. It has been remarked more than once, how 
promptly the public men of well-established political reputation 
obtained an ascendency over the Assembly, despite their newly- 
adopted Republicanism. Immediately after the invasion of the 
1 5th, this ascendency became more marked, and kept steadily on 
the increase, while the influence of the more fresh and fiery par- 
liamentary novelties declined in a corresponding proportion. The 



DUPIN. 113 

parts which men take in public proceedings are induced as much 
by their own characters as by the necessities which beckon them 
to their aid. M. Dupin assumed at once the part which ought 
properly to have devolved on the President — that of eliciting 
order out of disorder, of disentangling the many threads of 
discourse, of taking up the poor belabored question, and, with 
patience and skill, restoring it to shape. M. Dupin did all this 
in the most natural and inoflensive way ; and this was the more 
remarkable from the contrast which it presented to the manner 
employed by the same gentleman in the more punctilious Cham- 
ber of Deputies, where his word was ever barbed with sarcasm, 
and his look as sharp as his word. 

In the chair of the old Chamber, when M. Dupin filled that 
chair, a call to order would have been a chastisement for the 
oflender. A question rescued from confusion, would come out 
avenged on the blunderers, as it emerged into light through a 
galling discharge of brilliant, but stinging words. The Jupiter 
of the Deputies stood in the Assembly stripped of his forked 
thunderbolts. His bearing before that rude and riotous body 
was that of a novice. He looked as if he felt admitted upon 
sufibrance. I can not forget M. Dupin's first appearance at the 
tribune : he walked up so diffidently, with his hat in his hand, 
which he laid on the floor ; stood sideways, as if prepared to 
descend immediately ; stooped as the noise continued, took up 
his hat, and, with a short, graceless bow, was making his exit, 
when the homage of a sudden silence, broken only by invitations 
to proceed, induced him to go on with his favorite work — that of 
placing the lost question in its proper light. 

M. Dupin was always Avell received, although he Avas no 
longer the same Dupin, with whose caustic, wayward, unsocial 
nature, no party could combine ; and whose eccentricity, or 
infirmity of temper, showed that a mind of a high order was de- 
prived of its beneficial influences on mankind by the admixture 
of some strange element. Whence proceeded that coloring mat- 
ter which jaundiced an incomparable range of view ? What 
was it that repelled with such subtlety, while there were so 
many gifts of eloquence and wit to attract ? How could the 



114 DUPIN. 

judgment be so sure, and so false ? — the feelings so warm, and 
so perverse ? What nerve is astray in that vigorous, intellectual 
form ? How is it that the strength that can deal with par- 
ticulars in an all-searching analysis, yet can not combine the 
whole ? These are moral phenomena which cause our wonder, 
but baffle our explanation. 

Dupin was, in the old Chamber, the one whose hand was 
against every man, and every man's hand against him. It 
took the Revolution of February to sober him — the strange 
aspect of the National Assembly to reduce to the harmony of a 
plain-reasoning, reconciling man. No man was, however, viewed 
with more disfavor than was Dupin ; — he was not so hated, 
because he was not so dreaded, as Thiers. Like Lamartine, he 
had long ceased to be of any party — he stood alone ; while, un- 
like Lamartine, his proper connections never ceased to regard his 
isolation with regret, and would have won his support if they 
could. A man who, from no' matter what motive, repels the 
attractions of office, and place, and power, possesses a certain 
claim on the respect of politicians. He may be cross-grained, or 
disagreeable, but he is pure ; — or if not pure, he is self-punished. 
The fact of Dupin being the friend and adviser of the King, 
rather raised him, for it was plain to all how easily he might 
have taken advantage of such a position for self-elevation ; and 
this position showed, moreover, that he was worthy of trust. 
But there was one damning fault in the character of Dupin, his 
supposed identification with the bourgeoisie. He was regarded 
as the incarnation of the middle class, on which rested the 
throne of July. He had that vulgar sense of the bourgeois 
which he, unfortunately for himself, resumed in an often-quoted, 
and never-to-be-forgotten expression, " Chacun pour soi, chacun 
chez soi," which is, in point of fact, the counterpart of Alderman 
Brooke's famous moral axiom, " Lord ! every man is for himself 
in this world." 

It was, perhaps, that instinctive sense of what was most pru- 
dent for sake of self-interest, that guided M. Dupin into an ac- 
commodation with a new Assembly. He laid before them that 
plain reasoning, and in that plain way, which, if it be not com- 



DUPIN. 115 

mon sense, looks very like it ; for common sense is, after all, most 
frequently the basis of grand views, and grand views shape for 
themselves grand language — bold, simple, and yet ornate. The 
well-read man, if he be at the same time a deep thinker, is led 
to that discovery for himself, which has ever been the charm of 
highly cultivated intellects, namely, the analogies which run 
through Nature, harmonizing and combining all things through 
the pervading activity of some few elements or principles, and 
connecting, as by a fine chain, the world of matter with the world 
of spirits, until he arrive at the comprehension — that what we 
see only in parts may be seen by immortals as a whole — as one 
temple of finest proportions, filled with divinest harmony. The 
most dry subject may, in the hands of such a man as a Bacon, 
a Shakspeare, or a Burke, become most metaphorical, most 
adorned with happy similitudes, most plain, at the same time, by 
means of well-chosen analogies from the great storehouse of 
knowledge and reflection, into which shines the sun of imagina- 
tion. But as the audience must be able to follow, or at all 
events appreciate, this manner of stating questions, and as all 
audiences do not — why then it follows, that the speaker whose 
confined acquirements are most in accordance with ill-taught 
listeners will be the most relished. Burke was " the dinner-bell," 
even of a British House of Commons. For reasons indicated by 
these views, even lawyers can hardly be first-rate orators. Their 
range of reading is too special and narrow, their only analogies 
are those of analogous cases and decisions, not frankly sought 
after, but too often pressed and strained into the service of 
sophistry. 

A mere lawyer was M. Dupin — a lawyer built upon the basis 
of boio'geoisie — as such he was a most apt adviser for the Ex- 
King Louis-Philippe, a monarch who would have made a model 
of a plain, wise country gentleman. The King, with the same 
sort of shrewdness that belonged to his legal adviser, knew what 
his instrument was fitted for ; and although he never would 
choose him for Minister, yet never would he part from such a 
lawyer. I confess that the appearance of Dupin disappointed 
me. I expected to see an eccentric figure, slovenly and careless 



116 \ DUPIN. 

in attire, but flinging from the pockets of his greasy suit hand- 
fuls of the coin of a quaint, biting humor. He is no such thing. 
He dresses plainly, it is true, but not remarkably so ; very much 
like a man of mercantile pursuits ; and when he puts on a little 
bonnet grec to cover his strong bald head from the cold of the 
vast wooden hall — with his deep, sensible eye searching through 
his spectacles, and his harsh-looking mouth, ready for plain truth 
or bitter reply — he looks like the man of that maxim, chacun 
'pour soi — chacun chez soi. It was in the sitting of this day 
that the Committee of Fifteen, for drawing up the Constitution^ 
was balloted for. It was composed of members taken from 
nearly all parties ; in which, however, the well-known old names 
predominated, 



CHAPTER XIII. 

anger of the assembly not yet appeased singular debate 

about the manner of wearing scarfs the "fete de la 

Concorde" — the Parisians a theatrical people — adapta- 
tion OF PARIS FOR SPECTACLES WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE 

DAY, AND WHAT AT NIGHT. 

There was nothing of a marked character in the sitting of 
Friday, the 19th of May. The Assembly manifested, at the 
opening, the same irritability relating to the events of Monday 
that had prevailed since that day. The subject of the conduct 
of the President was revived, and a good deal of angry alterca- 
tion ensued about the order which he had given not to beat the 
rajjpd. The address of thanks to the National Guards was dis- 
cussed, paragraph by paragraph, and, after an incoherent con- 
versation, adopted. The rest of the day was chiefly passed in 
the presentation of projects by private members, most of which 
were strangled on the spot, or entombed in a reference to Com- 
mittees. 

The proceedings of Saturday were of a miscellaneous charac- 
ter ; an incident occurred, which excited some ridicule. The 
Questor of the Assembly, Degoussee, the most somber of triflers, 
occupied a portion of the day with a decree relative to a ribbon 
which he had designed for the button-holes of members, and 
without which they could not appear in the Assembly. He had 
also a plan of a scarf to be worn on occasions of ceremony like 
that of the fete, fixed for the following day. A grand difficulty, 
however, arose as to whether the scarf should be worn oi sautoir, 
en ediarpe, or en ceinturc. The Assembly voted for the en 
echarpe, but, like the famous decree of the Provisional Govern- 
ment relative to the white waistcoat and rolling collar, the law 
was quietly abrogated by the passive resistance of members. The 
day closed with the important amiounccment from M. de Lamar- 



118 FRENCH THEATRICALITY. 

tine, that he would, on the following Tuesday, treat of the ques- 
tions of Poland and Italy, interrupted hy the invasion of the last 
Monday. 

We must now follow the National Assembly to the Champ 
de Mars, where it inarched on Sunday, the 21st, to take part in 
the Fete de la Concorde. There, mounted upon an estrade 
raised against the Ecole Militaire, the members of the Executive 
Commission in front, the National Guards of Paris and the 
Provinces were passed in review. 

The French are a theatrical people ; that is to say, a people 
fond of representations that strike the senses agreeably. Their 
fancy takes its light through the eye. As Sheridan could only 
write his witty artificialities in the midst of a blaze of wax tapers, 
so French enthusiasm requires military display as an artistical 
setting by day, and fireworks by night. When Napoleon wanted 
to turn off attention from the disasters of Moscow, he ordered 
the dome of the Invalides to be gilded. For two months, M. de 
Lamartine ruled or amused, which was the same thing, the 
French by imagery. The panoramic picture of "the tri-colored 
flag making the tour of the world," amused the people, and did 
the purposes of Government until the great Magician was pre- 
pared with another dissolving view. The more materiel asso- 
ciates in the Government, got up processions to the Bastile> 
monster reviews, and monster fetes ; but novelty is the law of 
the theatrical art, invention must flag betimes, and then the 
people are apt to turn actors on their own account, and their 
dramas have a fearful reality, very unlike the pageantry of char- 
latan rulers at their wit's end. 

If the French be a theatrical people, assuredly Paris is the 
theater of cities. Never did a city shape itself better to refined 
sensual necessities. For a procession to the Column of February, 
what more picturesque line could be found than the Boulevards, 
which, with unvarying width, presents alternations of elevation 
and descent, and follows the zig-zag deviations of the bulwark 
from which the name is derived. The houses and buildings of 
white stone, softened and harmonized by green trees — that wed- 
ding of Art and Nature, that sweet blending of town and country, 



THE BOULEVARDS— FETE DE LA CONCORDE. 119 

of freshness with heat and hardness ; these houses and buildings 
so varied as to feast the eye with archseological studies — with 
contrasts between old and new, and new imitating old. 

The Boulevards de la Madeleine, des Capucines, and des Ital- 
iens, have all the luxuriousness and pretension of the parvenus 
of finance. The Boulevards Montmartre and Poissonniere retain 
the air of substantial bourgeoisie. The great arches of the Porte 
St. Denis and St. Martin mark the admixture of the petite bour- 
geoisie and turbulent working-classes. We then get into the 
quarter of the people's theaters, where, side by side, or very nearly 
so, stand those modern substitutes of the mediaeval temples, in 
whose performances may be read the taste, ay, and sources of 
the perversion of the taste of a people intensely devoted to amuse- 
ment. As usual, where the audiences are composed of the less 
refined, the performances are either extravagant tragedy, or broad 
humor, or pantomime. The Parisians are not stained with the 
vice of drunkenness ; but what scalding drink of gin or whisky 
can be more maddening and demoralizing than the somber licen- 
tiousness of the Porte St. Martin, Gaite, Ambigu, or Historique ? 
But our business is not with externals. These theaters diversify 
the promenade. Then there is a magnificent fountain and odor- 
ous flower-market ; and wherever an old house has been pulled 
down, as, for instance, that tainted den opposite the Turkish 
Garden, from which Fieschi discharged on a royal procession his 
infernal machine, a new house springs up, carved all over with 
the fanciful tracery of the reyiaissance. 

As there is always a reigning historical model, it is pleasant to 
see the classic stiffness affected at the Revolution give way to the 
models of Italian taste, introduced by Fran9ois Premier at the 
revival, although it proved but a temporary revival, of arts and 
letters. Now it happened, unfortunately for the Fete de la Con- 
corde, that the charming pictorial line of the Boulevards was 
abandoned on the pretext of the unusual heat prevailing, and a 
short cut was made by the Assembly to the Champ de Mars. 
There was reason to suspect that some graver motive suggested 
the alteration ; a plot was said to have been discovered, the 
object of which was to seize some forty members of the Assem- 



120 CHAMP DE MARS. 



bly, and hold them as hostages for the deHvery of the prisoners 
at Vincennes. In aid of this plot, fire was to have been set to 
several theaters. Our task is pleasanter than to have to record 
a scene of vi^ickedness ; its close neighborhood, however, to the 
gigantic trifling of the day, gives that trifling the sort of interest 
we would be disposed to take in a rope-dancer, who narrowly 
escaped a broken neck. Paris little thought she was dancing 
that day upon a cord which an effort had been made to cut half 
through. 

The Assembly got safe to the Champs Elysees. The mem- 
bers of the Institute having, with the simplicity of literary men, 
put on their cocked hats, and oakleaf-embroidered coats, got well 
hooted for aristocrats. The few old soldiers of the Empire, that 
appeared here and there in costumes only known through pic- 
tures, fared better ; and so long as the National Guards of town 
and country filled the Place de la Concorde and the Quays, the 
scene was animated enough. At the Champ de Mars the ap- 
pearance was different. Viewed merely as a frame in which to 
place an exhibition, it is totally unfit. It is a naked, sandy 
square, so large as to merit the name of a plain. It looks as if 
it could not be filled. People seem like atoms spilled about ; and 
in this shadeless, unpictorial place, a heathenish sort of procession 
was arranged, that if seen in the Boulevards, or Champs Elysees, 
might have produced a certain sort of effect ; but in the Champ 
de Mars, it was mean and paltry. 

There was a great theatrical wagon, with corn-trees and plants, 
bedecked with gold-leaf and paint, drawn by sixteen plough- 
horses, and attended by four hundred choice damsels, singing to 
Nature, or Ceres, or some philosophical abstraction or heathen 
deity. The ladies were to have worn that sort of Olympian 
costume which the grand opera assigns, on we know not what 
authority, to creatures of the other world, too innocent to discover 
improprieties of dress. An enieute of mothers stopped the scan- 
dal, and the young ladies appeared in salle de hal costume. 
Specimens of native manufacture were borne as offerings to the 
gods : the best got up shrine was that of the tobacconists, the 
sale of cigars being a monopoly of the fair sex, which accounts 



ILLUMINATIONS— THE ASSEMBLY. 12 L 

for the tasteful accompaniments attending an incense more prized 
in modern times than frankincense or myrrh. Colossal statues in 
plaster, colossal tripods of pasteboard, with a thirty-feet-high, and 
made-in-proportion, figure of the Republic, bedecked this unroofed 
temple, of Heaven knows what sort of worship. And while this 
monster tomfoolery was going on, the National Guards were anx- 
iously on the alert, lest some cou^-de-main should turn a dull 
farce into a deep tragedy. 

The illuminations at night made up for the failure of the day. 
The Place de la Concorde was inclosed in a festoonry of varie- 
gated lamps, which, carried up each side of the Champs Elysees 
to Rond Point, with lusters suspended over head, converted that 
magnificent allee into a fairy hall, that realized the dream of an 
Arabian fancy ; while the Arch of Triumph, looking like the 
Queen of the City, with its brilliant bandeau of lights, was 
beheld through a varying atmosphere of blue and red flame, or 
golden rain. The Champ de Mars was itself converted, as by a 
magic wand, into a fairy scene. In the morning the properties 
were removed, the stage v/as cleared for another representation ; 
but whether for a terrible reality, on which it should be the turn 
of all Europe to gaze thrilled with horror and wonder, or for 
another raree-show to keep the mischievous children out of harm's 
way, afibrded an anxious problem to many an aching head. 

This being an English account, it would not be perfect with- 
out a statement of the cost, which, as presented to the National 
Assembly in the year's budget of blunders and expenditure, 
amounted to the round sum of 950,000 francs, or £38,000. 
''Vive la Bagatelle !'' 

The next day's sitting of the Assembly was occupied through- 
out with the discussion of various financial schemes for meeting 
the state of public distress, caused by the decline of credit and 
confidence, but which, as they were in no case adopted, having 
been civilly referred to Committees engaged in study, need not 
detain us from the important sitting of Tuesday, the 23d of May, 
devoted to the consideration of Poland and Italy. 

F 



CHAPTER XIV. 

GENERAL BARAGUAY d'hILLIERS APPEARANCE OF CAVAIGNAC 

THE MARQUIS DE LA ROC HE JAC QUE LIN M. DE LAMARTINE's 

SPEECH ON ITALY AND POLAND ABSURD RESOLUTION. 

The sitting of Tuesday, the 23d of May, opened with a skir- 
mish which brought out a couple of those secondary, but respect- 
able personages, who serve to the enlivenment as well as to the 
advance of the political drama, and afford an agreea.ble share 
of life and harmony to our moving canvas. 

M. Bastide having acknowledged in suitable terms the hand- 
some manner in which the great Trans- Atlantic Republic had 
recognized the new Government of France, General Baraguay 
d'Hilliers ascended the tribune for the purpose of laying down 
the command with which he had been invested. The General 
had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the troops charged 
with the protection of the Assembly ; and he now found, that, 
by an order of the President, he was placed in a subordinate 
position to the Minister of War. Such position he would not 
accept. '' What I" exclaimed M. de la Rochejacquelin, " an au- 
thority that had emanated from the Assembly itself, over-ruled I" 
He should like to know who it was that considered he had a 
right to nullify an act of the Assembly I General Cavaignac, 
the new Minister of War, explained that there had been no in- 
tention to nullify the command given by the Chamber ; the object 
was to place all forces in the hands of the Minister of War, re- 
serving to those who held special command their full rights. The 
explanation was not deemed satisfactory by the General whose 
interests were affected. The Assembly desired not to receive his 
resignation, and, on his persisting in his resolution, passed him a 
vote of thanks. 

This was the first appearance of General Cavaignac ; and it 
was little suspected that so mild-looking a man — one giving evi- 



BARAGUAY D'HILLIERS— CAVAIGNAC. 123 



dence of the shyness of an officer who had passed his hfe in Al- 
geria, and who appeared for the first time in a public assembly, 
charged with the high functions to which he was so suddenly 
elevated — it was little suspected how much strength of charac- 
ter, invincibility of will, and integrity of purpose, lay under a 
demeanor so modest. Nevertheless, this first act showed how 
well he understood the necessity of unity of command, and how 
resolved he was to act as he understood. General Baraguay 
d'Hilliers might have been some fifteen years the senior of the 
new Minister of War. His figure is that of a grenadier, and 
the loss of his left arm, on the disastrous field of Leipsic, gave 
an unfailing interest to his appearance. 

The French have great respect for a military mancliot, to 
whom many a hat is touched in liis promenades. The General 
never forgot this slight, as he conceived it to be, and he became 
one of the most tenacious opponents of the Government. He 
was not eloquent, and so it was not at the tribune that he mani- 
fested the bitterness of his hostility ; his work lay in another 
field. The combined sections of the old parhamentary parties, 
Conservatives, Centre Gauche, Gauche, and Legitimists, having 
formed a club, which, meeting in the Rue de Poictiers, soon ren- 
dered itself formidable, made the dissatisfied General their chair- 
man. Within doors he showed considerable activity in carrying 
on communications with the allied army under his command, 
and toward supporters of the Government evinced rather cranki- 
ness than hauteur. In fact, the good General's talents were not 
of that high order which gives power to disdain. M. de la 
Rochejacquelin, who rushed in as at once the champion of the 
Assembly and of the General, figures on all occasions of etiquette. 
He is the Marquis de la Rochejacquelin of the Ex-Chamber of 
Deputies, and composed one of the five Legitimist members who 
made what was called the pilgrimage to Belgrave-square, on the 
occasion of the visit of the Due de Bordeaux to London. An 
allusion to this visit having been made in the King's Speech, 
and the unhappy term fletri applied to the pilgrims, the Mar- 
quis, with his usual parliamentary heroism, in connection with 
his quadruple allies, gave in his resignation, only to re-appear 



124 LA ROCHEJACQUELIN- 

with a brow washed in the electoral urn from the Ministerial 
stigma put into the mouth of Royalty. The Noble Marquis 
entered the National Assembly without being able to throw off 
the fastidious grace of a courtier. He, the Legitimist, was one 
of the very few who obeyed the order to appear in a white 
waistcoat and white cravat ; and he raised his hand for the Re- 
public as he would have sworn fealty to the descendant of St. 
Louis, 

There is no name, among all the glorious names of France, 
around which cluster so many charming associations as about 
that of the Bayard of La Vendee, fated to fall at the age of a 
Gaston de Foix. The most profoundly moving, the most inspir- 
ing of all that unique literary series, the Chronicles and Memoirs 
of the French, are the " Memoirs of Madame la Marquise de la 
Rochejacquelin." It was in the west of France that loyalty 
glowed and blazed, after the Monarchy had set in blood ; and if 
that region was comparatively spared the horrors which were 
visited on a Lyons or a Nantes, upon its border, it was because 
the Republic had committed its subjugation to a young chief, 
alive to heroic impressions — the gallant Hoche. The present 
Marquis, with all the courage of his kind, has yet the aspect of 
a << carpet knight." Fifty years, although they have carried 
locks from his crown, have yet spared the ailes de pigeon. His 
face is full and good-natured ; his eye clear, but not intellectual. 
He is corpulent, but never did soldier mount the breach with 
more ardor than does that large, light-footed Marquis, when the 
cause to be defended is that of good manners, or the enemy to 
be cut down is the violator of parliamentary propriety. As the 
arbiter elegantiarum of the Assembly, the Marquis (we can not 
throw him in among the ex's) has a very busy time. His in- 
dignation, from over-use, is becoming ineffective, and he has no 
other weapon. His is not the light, stinging, railleur vein ; he 
is always King Cambyses. It is not the column of water the 
leviathan throws up through his dilated nostril — ^it is the close, 
gentle rain, that calms the sea. Many a great, but ineffective 
splash does our indignant Marquis make upon that storm-tossed 
Assembly ; yet the Assembly could not do without its Marquis, 



ITALY AND POLAND. 125 



no more than the House of Commons without its Sibthorp, or 
the Court of Denmark without Polonius. He is a relic of the 
past, and serves the purpose of admonition, lest Republican tu- 
mult should descend into a Saturnalia. 

We need not remind our readers of what the Eg}'^ptians hung 
up at their feasts, to sober them into propriety ; nothing can be 
more unlike the Egyptian recipe for counteracting the wine of 
Cyprus than the portly presence of the Marquis de la Roche- 
jacquelin. He stands a living proof that there may be cordial- 
ity, warmth, and earnestness combined with elegance of manner, 
and propriety of speech. 

The incident on which we have been tempted to dwell having 
been disposed of, M. d'Aragon renewed his interpellation regard- 
ing Italy, and M. Wolowski his interpellation regarding Poland, 
and was supported by M. Vavin, M. Sarrins, M. Guichard, and 
M. Napoleon Bonaparte, in speeches of a more or less warUke 
complexion ; the last was particularly so. 

M. de Lamartine at length took the tribune. His speech was 
based upon the celebrated diplomatic circular which, shortly 
after the revolution, he had addressed to the representatives of 
France at foreign Courts, and of which his reply to the interpel- 
lations of the day, was in fact an amplified paraphrase. In that 
circular it was laid doAvn that while France would not shrink 
from war, if declared by other powers, yet she would not declare 
war against any ; that while she negotiated in favor of national- 
ities, she kept her hand on her sword ; and that, although she 
declared the Treaties of 1815 abrogated, she would yet trust to 
reason and the power of patient negotiation for a restitution of 
rights ; her military power being at the same time kept to such 
a heijrht as to show that it would not be safe to oblige a recur- 
rence to the ultima ratio. The motives assigned by M. de 
Lamartine, for preferring negotiation to war, were founded chiefly 
on the suspicion that might be excited on the part of those very 
" oppressed nationalities," whom it was their disinterested object 
to relieve. The nations of Europe had not forgotten the inflic- 
tions caused by the invasion of the Empire, and the selfish way 
in which so many fine promises were perverted to the aggrandize- 



126 LAMARTINE'S SPEECH. 

ment of one power. Republican France was now paying the 
penalty of the Empire, in the exhibition of a distrust which she 
no longer merited. Nor was this a theoretical surmise, for since 
that circular had been addressed, several expeditions had been got 
up by foreigners, in which Frenchmen had mingled ; one had 
been directed against Belgium, another against Savoy, and many 
parts of the frontier of Germany had been violated ; the conse- 
quence of all which was an exhibition of irritation among the 
people of these different countries, sufficient to warn France of the 
misapprehension to which imprudent or premature intervention 
might give rise. 

With regard to Italy, he argued that in consequence of the 
change of policy that had taken place upon the fall of the Mon- 
archy, that country was, by an internal movement — in which the 
Pope, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the Dukes of Parm.a, Plaisanee 
and Modena shared, and of which the King of Piedmont had be- 
come the arm — almost delivered from the yoke of Austria. How 
far the orator was from foreseeing the defeat of Charles Albert, 
and the flight of the Pope ! The then actual position of things 
in Italy, the declaration of Charles Albert that Italy was able 
to free herself, the refusal of the Italian powers to invite French 
aid, all this happily enabled M. de Lamartine to turn from the 
difficulties of the Italian Peninsula, to the question of Poland. 
This Polish question, he acknowledged, to present one of the main 
difficulties of French policy. Turning to the Instructions ad- 
dressed to French agents at the Northern Courts, he quoted the 
spirited injunctions that had been given to them — to state frankly 
to the Russian, the Prussian, and the Austrian Governments : 
'' We desire peace with you, we will even seek your alliance on 
conditions equitable for all, and beneficial for intermediate nations ; 
but the first condition for the solidity of this peace, and for ren- 
dering intimate our alliance, is that usurped and oppressed Poland, 
without proper nationality, without civil or religious independ- 
ence, should not rise between ourselves and you." At that price, 
he said, was the peace of the world. He then proceeded to show 
that the views of France, regarding the restitution of Poland, 
had been responded to, particularly by the King of Prussia, who 



LAMARTINE'S SPEECH. 127 

had consented to the administrative independence of Posen ; and 
if those beneficent intentions had not been ah'eady carried out, it 
was owing to an outbreak of local hatreds between families, of 
hostile races, different languages, and different nationalities, such 
as had ever formed the plague of Poland, and had ever proved 
fatal to the heroism of that generous people. 

Next with regard to Cracow and Austrian Poland, he had 
only to point to the then threatened state of decomposition into 
which the Austrian Empire was falhng, and which would, as a 
matter of course, lead to the emancipation of her Polish prov- 
inces ; and he dwelt particularly on the fraternal feelings of the 
Bohemians, who were ready to rise in vindication of their own. 
nationality, and to aid the Poles in a similar attempt. 

Here again, how far was the orator from foreseeing Windisch- 
gratz, and the removal of the Austrian Diet to a Bohemian town ! 
Reviewing the general state of things, as they appeared to the 
Provisional Government, he asked, if they ought to have raised 
by a premature declaration of war, the susceptibilities of all Con- 
tinental nations, which would have had for effect, the re-con- 
stitution of a coalition against France. Suppose, he said, that 
they had launched an army of 120,000 men across Germany, 
what would they not have had to encounter ? They would have 
found 500,000 Germans on each flank, before they could have 
reached Poland ; and w^hen there, they would have found 250,000 
Russians ready to meet them, they having previously annihilated 
Poland herself. 

Let us stop I have we not in this crowning argument of M. de 
Lamartine, the celebrated twenty-first final reason of the Gov- 
ernor of Tilbury Fort, for not having fired a salute in honor of 
Queen Elizabeth, who having enumerated his twenty difficulties, 
came to the last, that he had no powder. M. de Lamartine 
might have spared a vast deal of eloquent circumlocution, by 
coming at once to the point, and stating, that they did not march 
to Poland, because they could not. Had he done so, of what an 
absurd inconsequence might he not have spared himself the exhi- 
bition I It would not be easy to do justice to so eloquent a 
speaker, through a meager outline ; but there are two parts of 



128 LAMARTINE'S MISTAKE. 

the speech which we give faithfully, the oiie in which he puts a 
quasi- declaration of war into the mouths of French Republicans 
against the Northern Courts, on account of Poland ; and the other, 
in which he makes that declaration so much mere mouthing and 
imbecile impertinence, by a statistical demonstration of the im- 
possibility in which France found herself to undertake a crusade 
for Poland's liberation. 

M. de Lamartine fancied that the same principle of Govern- 
ment, which he had found so successful at home, could be applied 
to foreign diplomacy ; and that he could cajole, convince, or 
frighten with eloquent " pellets of the brain," as he had soothed 
and ruled from the Revolution to the meeting of the Assembly 
by words. His was to have been the moral agitation of O'Con- 
nell, with a mystic reference to physical force. Foreign powers 
would have blown aside the painted cloud, and numbered the 
battalions. Young France would have cheered the music, but 
sharpened her sword. The only one deceived would be the 
Magician himself He who, like the man in the Eastern tale, 
had let escape the imprisoned smoke, would have found himself 
in the presence of a giant. 

M. de Lamartine exerted himself in an extraordinary degree 
on this day, as if he had before him an unwilling audience, whom 
it required all his powers to convince. It was no such thing. 
The invasion of the previous Monday week, in the name of Po- 
land, had settled the Polish question. It had done more, it 
turned attention away from foreign politics. The danger lay at 
home — the enemy was within the gates. The Republic could 
not undertake a crusade, except on the condition of a surrender 
of society to the bonnet-rouge. The speech was valuable as 
affording a covering for retreat under a brilliant fire. The dis- 
cussion ended in the adoption of a resolution, inviting the Govern- 
ment to take as its rule of conduct : " Fraternal compact with 
Germany ; re-constitution of Poland, free and independent ; the 
enfranchisement of Italy." 

This was a confused resolution. France had pledged herself, 
or allowed herself to be pledged in general terms, to answer the 
invitation of any struggling nationality to come to its assistance. 



THE POLISH QUESTION. I09 

In making this pledge, Poland and Italy were particularly under- 
stood. As regards Poland, we find the fulfillment of the pledge 
was impossible, because Germany lay in the way, and with 
Germany, France was seeking a fraternal compact. Italy, how- 
ever, had no interposing barrier ; she was approachable by sea 
and by land, and so there was nothing to prevent an Italian 
invitation being accepted. Not so fast I From what yoke was 
Italy to be enfranchised ? Why from that of Austria ; but 
Austria is a great German power ; her integrity, necessary to 
German strength, is bound up with German sentiment, and with 
Germany France seeks fraternal compact. The resolution was 
therefore a mystification and a juggle. 



CHAPTER XV. 

DECREE BANISHING- THE FAMILY OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE JEALOUSY 

SHOWN TOWARD THE BONAPARTES — -AGITATION IN THE NA- 
TIONAL ATELIERS -ATTEMPTS TO CURE GROWING ABUSES-^ — HOW 

RECEIVED DISAPPEARANCE OF EMILE THOMAS, CHIEF DIRECTOR 

OF THE ATELIERS APPLICATION TO PROSECUTE LOUIS BLANC. 

The sitting of Wednesday, the 24th of May, was rendered 
remarkable by the communication of a letter from the Due d'Au- 
male and the Prince de Joinville, protesting against the intended 
project of excluding the family of Louis-Philippe forever from 
the soil of France. The Due d'Aumale had been Governor- 
General of Algeria, at the time when the Revolution was accom- 
plished. The Prince de Joinville was on a visit with his brother, 
having, as it appeared afterward, left the Tuileries in sorrow and 
disgust, on account of the policy he was obliged to witness, with- 
out being able to restrain, while he clearly foresaw its fatal 
termination. 

The Due d'Aumale, upon the first summons from the Repub- 
lican Minister of War, laid down his authority without a mur- 
mur ; his more fiery brother manifested equal prudence ; and 
they pleaded as of right, their conduct on this occasion, against 
the hard banishment about to be decreed against them. The 
protest proved of no avail. 

On the day next but one following, the law banishing forever 
the family of Louis-Philippe was brought forward and discussed. 
The feebleness of the opposition to it may be judged from the 
division, which gave 631 for the decree, and 63 against it. The 
law was so conceived, that it pleaded its own cause with terrible 
laconic retaliation. It ran thus : " The territory of France and 
her Colonies, interdicted forever to the elder branch of the Bour- 
bons, by the law of the 10th of April, 1832, is equally interdicted 
to Louis-Philippe and his family." It was perhaps felt by those 



DELUSION OF THE OUVRIERS. 131 

whose sympathies were with the Ex-King and his family, that it 
was not worth their while to have their profession of Pv-epublican- 
ism called in question by an opposition that would have done no 
good. They well knew, moreover, that if the time should come 
for a restoration of either branch, the decree of the Assembly 
would prove but a barrier of straw. Still there was something 
startling in the almost unanimity with which a sentence was 
passed, that sounds the most awful next to that of death. 

An incident occurred in this sitting, which by the light of 
subsequent events, possesses a reflective interest. An allusion 
was made to the Bonaparte family, by one of the ultra-democratic 
party, of a threatening kind — inasmuch as by insinuating that 
they were in that Assembly provisionally or by sufferance, a hint 
was to be inferred, that their continuance would depend on good 
behavior. Pierre and Napoleon Bonaparte, who stood among a 
group collected on the floor, at the right of the chair, manifested 
great excitement, particularly the former ; but as he has not the 
free elocution of his cousin, the latter rushed to the tribune, and 
asserted his rights of citizenship, he being there returned by 
universal suffrage. This was the first manifestation of the dis- 
agreeable effect produced on the Pwepublicans by the presence of 
the Bonapartes, of whose name they had an instinctive apprehen- 
sion, which subsequent events proved to have been somewhat 
well-founded. 

Saturday, the 27th of May, was a day of considerable agita- 
tion in Paris. The Assembly was surrounded by troops, similar 
precautions were taken for the protection of the H6tel-de-Ville, 
the Prefecture of Police, and other public establishments. The 
cause of this agitation was some disturbances that had broken out 
in the national ateliers, the prodigious development of which had 
begun to excite serious uneasmess. The Frankenstein of the 
Pwevolution had begun to move. The situation was just this. 
The leaders of the Pv-evolution of February, as much unprepared 
for the Pwepublic as any other party, were obliged by the Social- 
ists, and indeed by the want of a good cry, to base the Pvepublic 
upon the working classes. A vision of wealth, ease, and social 
and pohtical importance, had suddenly opened upon the eyes of 



132 LIFE IN THE ATELIERS. 

the operatives. Their reason became disturbed, and their ener- 
gies directed from their daily avocations, turned into the vortex 
of revolutionary agitation. The workmen were the masters of 
the city, awaiting to become the trustees of the State. All who 
had any thing to lose and could fly — fled. Employment shrank 
away, and even if employment had been abundant, steady appli- 
cation became impossible. How could men whose passions had 
been thrown into fever, and whose imaginations had been kindled 
— rhow could they work ? The State, which had undertaken to 
make these men " Kings who should ride in coaches," ^ was 
obliged to find them bread. The transition from toil to sover- 
eignty, was to be beggary. The beggary was to be disguised 
under unprofitable toil, and dignified by military organization. 
The men rallied, each company under its banner, and followed 
their officers. They worked as much as they pleased ; when 
they did not work, read cheap publications of the most subversive 
character, finished the day with rifle practice, and clubbed their 
money to go home in coaches. 

The workmen took the State at its word, and lived royally. 
The Civil List, however, became rather burthensome ; the State 
was becoming every day less able to pay ; the army was increas- 
ing, swelled by habitual beggars, by the country laborers, who 
deserted their work and their fields for the spoil, which was to 
fall some fine day to the share of the proletaires, and by all those 
whom a perishing commerce threw on alms. The terrible out- 
break that occurred in June, took no one by surprise, for the 
question of insurrection was one of time. When would that 
army which hung like thunder clouds over the beleaguered city, 
burst in upon it ? When would those irritated, excited, and 
demoralized workmen rush upon their prey, and having gloated 
on all the available wealth of the capital, endeavor to accomplish 
for themselves the Social and Democratic Republic that had 
been promised ? Such questions occupied the anxious attention 
of all who knew what was passing. The panic which appeared 
to-day was caused by a proclamation of the Minister of Public 
Works, that there should be a rigid review of the national 
* The words of Louis Blanc. 



EMILE THOMAS. 133 



ateliers, for the purpose of diminishing the numbers, by weeding 
away those who had no claim to support from the State, by 
checking the frauds that were committed by persons practicing 
personation, and by forcing those who remained to execute task- 
work. This proclamation was just and necessary ; and it dissi- 
pated the illusion under which the workmen had so long been 
allowed to labor. They were no longer lords and masters — they 
were receivers of charity. They were a burthen to the State, a 
source of confusion and ruin. 

The agitation continued throughout Sunday and Monday, and 
many thought that the struggle had come at last. While this 
fermentation was going on, the Assembly was occupied with dis- 
cussing propositions and reports relating to these national ateliers. 
The vices of the institution were unsparingly exposed, particularly 
by M. Leon Faucher and M. de Falloux ; still no measure could 
be taken that would not look harsh and ofiensive to the poor 
deluded objects of suspicion. The Clubs, that were speculating 
on the demoralization and discontent of the national ateliers, 
stirred up the flame — gathered every strong speech made in the 
Assembly, every hard word, and barbed and poisoned them. 
While the decree regarding the purification of the ateliers, by 
the removal of cheats and idlers, was producing its effect, a 
thrill of astonishment was caused by the disappearance of the 
Chief of the Ateliers. M. Emile Thomas, a young engineer of 
talent, had first suggested the plan of the Ateliers Nationaux 
to the Minister of Public Works; and when the plan was 
approved, the direction was bestowed upon him. A charming 
villa, which had been the private property of Louis-Philippe, 
situated in a beautiful park, called Monceau, in the faubourg of 
that name, was assigned to the young Director, and became the 
head-quarters of the institution. If report speaks truth, the villa 
was restored to the festivities practiced under the Regency that 
preceded and prepared the first great Revolution. The example 
set to the rank and file of the national ateliers was by no means 
one of self-denial, while waiting the coming millennium of the 
Repuhlique Democratique ct Sociale. Luxury ran riot at 
Monceau, while beggary trundled its wheelbarrow on the Champ 



134 STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE. 

de Mars. M. Thomas was taken without ceremony by the 
Republican Government, put into a coach, and carried off to 
Bordeaux, after the fashion in which a Due d'Enghien would 
have been seized by a Napoleon. The romance was heightened 
by a letter written with a pencil to Madame Thomias, the mother 
of the captive, who committed it to the winds and the high road, 
as the sinking mariner commits the secret of his fate to a bottle 
cast into the sea ; and, strange to say, the letter arrived. Such 
being the state of things, it became impossible for the National 
Assembly to avoid feeling its share of the agitation which pre- 
vailed so generally without. 

On Monday, the 29th of May, M. Taschereau brought the 
subject before the Assembly. The Minister of Public Works 
gave an explanation, which showed that there was something 
behind the curtain, of which it might be as well to avoid the 
exposure. He declared that he never could obtain proper returns 
of the whole of the ateliers ; that his remonstrance against the 
exorbitant increase of numbers produced no effect. He assured 
the Assembly that Thomas was in constant apprehension of 
assassination, or affected to be so ; that he gave in his resigna- 
tion voluntarily ; and that it was altogether in the interest of 
his personal safety that he was so suddenly, but altogether with 
his own consent, sent off to Bordeaux. Whatever mystery was 
enveloped in the strange circumstance, one point was clear, that 
the national ateliers formed a serious danger for the common- 
wealth. 

The remaining portion of this day was passed in regulating 
the relation that ought to subsist between the Assembly and the 
Executive power. We have already had to notice the feebleness 
of the Ministry that had been chosen by the Executive. The 
Ex-Ministers, now become Supreme Directors, had, as before de- 
scribed, put their secretaries in their places — these secretaries, 
plain, plodding men, without oratorical powers. It was hoped, 
however, that their want of elocution would be supplied, on all 
necessary occasions, by Lamartine or Ledru-Rollin, Garnier 
Pages or Marie. But no ! — the Directory was now in the 
place of the Monarchy. It had embassadors to receive, and all 



CHARGE AGAINST LOUIS BLANC. 135 

the dignity of supreme surveillance weighed upon its god-like 
responsibility. The Directory prayed accordingly to be excused 
from taking part in debates, and its prayer was granted. The 
Ministers, then, were real independent Ministers, although of 
the poorest possible kind. 

The following day, the 30th, was occupied with the same 
topics. A law for regulating the national ateliers, the chief 
feature of which was the imposition of task-work, was discussed ; 
and, after exposures of the demoralization caused by these estab- 
lishments, passed. It was shown, that, owing to some design 
not then quite apparent, however it might have been suspected, 
the men of the national ateliers exercised a complete system of 
tyranny over the well-disposed workmen, who were turned out 
of factories in wliich they were willingly doing their duty, and 
obliged to swell the mass of idleness by which the State was 
encumbered. Orders in several branches of trade had to be 
renounced, owing to want of hands, and there was an utter 
disorganization of the working classes. 

The salient point of the sitting of the 31st was a written 
application, by the law officers of the Republic, for leave to 
prosecute Louis Blanc for the part attributed to him in the 
affair of the 1 5th of May. The charge against him was, that 
he had on that day, by his speeches particularly, been implicated 
in the invasion and oppression of the Assembly. It had been 
proved that he said, " I congratulate you on having recognized 
the right of bearing your own petition to the Chamber — a right 
that henceforward remains incontestable." Other circumstances, 
confirmatory of the accusation, were stated to have taken place, 
but not specified in the Act of Accusation. M. Louis Blanc 
defended himself by offering a flat contradiction to the expres- 
sion sattributed to him. The witnesses, members of the Assembly, 
re-asserted the expressions ; and a scene of tumult was provoked 
by the scandal of mutually-attributed falsehood, which was put 
an end to by the application being referred to a Committee, to 
inquire into and report thereupon. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

REPORT 01 THE COMMITTEE ON LOUIS BLANC ^ILL-WILL TOWARD 

THE BONAPARTES THE CROSS OF THE LEGION OF HONOR 

PROSECUTION OF LOUIS BLANC REFUSED SPLIT BETWEEN CRE- 

MIEUX AND FAVRE. 

The Assembly did not meet, out of respect for Ascension 
Thursday, one of the few holidays which the French strictly 
observe by a cessation from all business and an attention to 
religious duties ; both which marks of respect are but indiffer- 
ently paid to the Sabbath. 

On Friday, the 2d of June, the report on M. Louis Blanc's 
case was brought up by M. Favre, After an elaborate prelimi- 
nary, in which it was laid down that scrupulous care had been 
taken that the application for leave to prosecute was not con- 
ceived in a spirit of reaction or personal malice, but was founded 
on a pure love of justice ; and after a dose of cruel compliments 
to the accused, delivered in the most insidious tone, the conclu- 
sion was come to, that the Assembly ought not to interpose a 
barrier of privilege against the claims of justice. All eyes were 
turned to Louis Blanc, and invitations to speak arose from all 
sides ; which he answered by a sign that he would say a few 
words from his place ; but the calls to ascend the tribune became 
so vehement, that he complied. He looked haggard with agita- 
tion, and only uttered a few phrases, declaring that he would not 
say a word in his own vindication ; then, warning the Assembly 
that they had entered on a disastrous course, left the tribune, to 
the disappointment of those who had reckoned upon that great 
parliamentary luxury, an impassioned personal debate. 

This incident was not to end with injury confined to Louis 
Blanc ; but we must interrupt the unity of narration, for the pur- 
pose of noting the proceedings that occupied the rest of the day. 



THE BONAPARTES. 137 



They were composed of three distinct categories — a discussion 
relating to the Bonaparte family, a financial bill between M. 
Billault and M. Duclerc, and a scene about the cross of the 
legion of honor. 

The Bonaparte family were excluded from France by a dis- 
tinct law which had not been abrogated. Now there can be no 
doubt, seeing the suspicious excitement and jealousy that broke 
out whenever the name of this family was introduced, that, had 
the E, evolutionists not been swept unexpectedly into their tumult- 
uous career before they had time to take note of the future, they 
would have guarded the Republic against the pretensions of the 
successors of Napoleon. As it was, the attention of the E.epub- 
lican party was concentrated upon Louis Napoleon alone, on 
account of the two attempts that, as heir to the Emperor, he 
had made on the Crown of France. 

Under cover of this pre-occupation, two cousins of the Prince 
had been allowed to take their seats unquestioned in the National 
Assembly, as well as the son of Murat. Possession has been 
truly said to be nine points of the law. They were there, and 
although men may be induced to maintain a barrier already 
existing, yet expulsion from a place entered and secured, is an 
ungracious act from which people revolt. If this be true with 
regard to persons of ordinary interest, how much more powerful 
must the feeling have been with reference to the illustrious name 
of Bonaparte, rendered tender by defeat, dethronement, and exile. 
There were few, indeed, who could have brought themselves to 
put their hands on the shoulder of Jerome's son, the living image 
of the Emperor, and turn him out of a society of Frenchmen. 

The Minister of Justice thought to put a good face on the 
matter, and to bring the House to the adoption of a proposition, 
tagged to a piece of false sentiment, that the law excluding the 
Bonaparte family, being a Monarchical Act, had fallen with the 
Monarchy. It would not do. He tried a second " dodge," pro- 
posing that the law had been virtually abrogated by the admis- 
sion of three members of the Bonaparte family. That would 
not do either. The Assembly, with the true instincts toward 
plain truth which animate aggregate masses of men, even sena- 



138 CROSS OF THE LEGION OF HONOR. 

tors, preferred the more straightforward abrogation of the law by 
a direct declaration to that effect. 

We should like to say a few words touching M. Billault, but 
we have him in view for another day, and so skip from the Bona- 
parte family to the Cross of the Legion of Honor. Citizen Rey 
proposed that the effigy of Napoleon should be restored to the 
Cross — a reasonable proposition, if the institution of the Legion 
of Honor was to be continued at all ; for of all the anachronisms 
invented by the Restoration, that of attaching the Legion of 
Honor to the memory of Henry IV. was the most absurd— more 
absurd even than the quiet assumption of the non-existence of 
the Empire, and of victories gained by General Bonaparte, 
Commander-in-Chief of the King's armies — the King being Louis 
XVIII., restored by the victories of foreign bayonets over this 
General Bonaparte himself. The stanch Republicans desired 
to see this Cross dispensed with altogether, because it had, under 
the Monarchy, formed the small-change of corruption, and been 
deprived of its value by the ridiculous profusion with which it 
was bestowed on Treasury clerks, and other wretchedly remune- 
rated servants of the Crown. 

The revival of the image of Napoleon in a way so striking 
to the imagination was also apprehended. The old soldiers in 
the Assembly defended the Cross, and when Clement Thomas, 
in his rough, stentorian voice, described it as a hochet de la 
vanite, he not only excited a storm, which our readers have 
discovered by this time was never very difficult, but exposed 
himself to positive danger ; for had he not explained away his 
words, there was more than one whiskered clecore, ready to 
avenge the stigma. This matter may be disposed of here, 
by stating that, some months afterward. General Cavaignac, 
while at the head of the Government, ordered the effigy of 
Napoleon to be reinstated on the Cross of the Legion of Honor. 

The next day, Saturday, the 14th of June, the report on M. 
Louis Blanc's case was again brought forward, and the conclusion 
of the report of the Committee, recommending an authorization 
by the Assembly of the demand made by the law officers for 
leave to prosecute, warmly contested by the friends of the incul- 



CREMIEUX AND JULES FAVRE. 139 

pated gentleman. Upon the question being put to the vote, to 
the surprise of every one, M. Cremieux, the Minister of Justice, 
who had sanctioned the appUcation, and without whose sanction 
the proceeding could not have been taken, rose and voted with the 
opposition, and leave was refused by a small majority. As a con- 
sequence of this vote, the law officers sent in their resignation. 

Or the next meeting of the Assembly, M. Jules Favre 
showed that his anger had been raised to a white heat. What I 
he the associate of Ledru-Rollin, the most compromised in all 
the dictatorial and illegal proceedings of the Provisional Govern- 
ment — he, the friend of Louis Blanc, had been gently urged 
into the ungracious position of his accuser, in the belief that his 
colleagues (for he was Under-secretary of State for Foreign 
Affairs) were identified with himself, and that he was interpret- 
ing the will of the Government ; yet there he stood reproved in 
the presence of the whole Assembly, by the Minister of Justice 
voting against him I It was too much, and he resigned ; but 
before he did so, he gave M. Cremieux a mortal stab. He 
accused the Minister of Justice and Religion of a violation of 
his solemn engagement with respect to himself and the law offi- 
cers of the Republic, who in turn equally charged the Minister 
with a breach of his word ; and as the Assembly could not re- 
sist such testimony, M. Cremieux felt obliged, in shame and 
confusion, to resign office. A less dignified functionary never 
filled a post preeminently denianding the possession of those high 
moral qualities that give dignity to the least favored. 

The sitting of Tuesday, the 6th of June, was occupied with 
a scrambling discussion relating to the different financial projects 
of the Government, afiecting the Savings' Banks, Treasury 
Bonds, Pi-ailways, etc., regarding which much anxiety and irrita- 
tion were felt in and out of doors ; for the doctrines held by the 
Government were considered to be of the subversively revolu- 
tionary kind. The proper time to refer to one of these measures 
more particularly, will be when they came in a definite shape 
before the House. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CLUBS OUT OF DOORS A RAZZIA LAW AGAINST ATTROUPE- 

MENTS ELECTIONS FOR VACANT SEATS CURIOUS CONTRASTS 

SHOWN BY THE RETURNS DEFEAT OF THE REPUBLICANS RE- 
TURNS OF CONSERVATIVES, BONAPARTISTS, AND COMMUNISTS 

THE ATTROUPEMENTS CONTINUED ALAPcM CAUSED BY THE POP- 
ULARITY OF LOUIS NAPOLEON ANIMATED DEBATE M, DUPRAT 

M. BABAUD-LARIBIERE - — NEW REPUBLICAN LITERATURE 

GENERAL BEDEAU A BONAPARTIST PLOT A DECREE AGAINST 

LOUIS NAPOLEON STOPPED BY GENERAL LAVALET. 

The agitation and alarm caused by the insubordination of 
national ateliers, by the total suspension of all commerce, by the 
demoralization of the whole working population and the activity 
of the Clubs, began about this time to assume a most menacing 
form. Ever since the Revolution of February, the city had 
been converted into a vast Club, or causeries of Clubs. The 
Boulevards, Palais Royal, Gardens of the Tuileries, and corners 
of streets and thoroughfares, presented groups of talkers and 
listeners. A placard, or any object that caused one or two per- 
sons to stop, would serve as the nucleus for a group. In conse- 
quence of the laxity of the police, all sorts of wares might be 
seen spread out in what used to be the haunts of fashion, and 
tended, with other causes, to impede the general circulation. 

Such congregated masses of filth and idleness contrasted mis- 
erably with the external brilliancy of the once rich and gay city. 
It was as if by a convulsion of Nature a fair navigable stream 
had been suddenly filled and choked up with ruins, through 
which the waters roared more vehemently than before ; but 
there was an end to the pleasant and useful interchange that 
gave to life the no less sweet than profitable commerce which 
lived upon it. 

For a while this peripatetic indulgence in the delights of street 



LAW AGAINST ATTROUPEMENTS. 141 

democracy had to be tolerated ; but about the period at which 
wo have now arrived, the nuisance assumed a most dangerous 
and perplexing form. The masses of people who thus congre- 
gated in the sweet summer evenings on the Boulevards, unable 
to remain quiet at their homes, too many of which only served 
to remind the inmates of their destitution, were calculated to in- 
spire some serious reflections. The chief haun-t of the politicians 
in blouses used to be the Porte St. Denis and the Boulevards, 
and the adjacent streets became at night impassable. Several 
attempts had been made to clear the thoroughfares by charges of 
National Guards, Mobile Guards, and police, but with only tem- 
porary effect. In order to frighten well-disposed people away, a 
razzia was made one night, and every person on whom hands 
could be laid was arrested. 

At length the Government resolved upon having recourse to 
measures of coercion, and on "Wednesday, the 7th of June, a law 
was presented of a very stringent character, affecting attroupe- 
vients. As the Minister of Justice, and the law officers of the 
Republic had resigned, owing to causes already explained, it de- 
volved on M. Marie, one of the Executive Commission, to con- 
duct the bill through the Assembly. He did his duty in the 
most manly and unflinching manner, and notwithstanding the 
strenuous opposition of the Ultra-Republicans, the law for the 
suppression of attrowpenienU was passed by an immense major- 
ity. M. Lamartine and M. Ledru-Rollin refrained from giving 
the sanction of their presence to this vigorous act of their col- 
league, and the one and the other suffered alike in the estimation 
of the friends of order. Public feeling happened to be put to 
the test at this time, by several elections having taken place, 
chiefly owing to double returns on the occasion of the general 
election. 

For Paris there had been no fewer than eleven vacancies, and 
the manner in which they were filled up curiously cxempHfied 
the disorganization and confusion of parties. M. Caussidiere, 
who had resigned his seat along with the Prefecture, came in at 
the head of the list, by a coalition of parties supporting him, 
because of their dislike to the Government. The others were 



142 LOUIS NAPOLEON ELECTED. 

Moreau, Goudchaux, Pierre Leroux, the Communist ; General 
Changarnier. Thiers, Proudhon, Communist ; Lagrange, Com- 
munist ; Victor Hugo, Boissel, and Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. 
For Rouen, Thiers was returned with Charles Dupin, Ex-Peer 
of France. He was also returned for his own department, 
Bouches-du-E-hone. Louis Bonaparte was nominated for five 
different places. These nominations for Paris were clear in one 
respect : they showed that the Moderate Republican party had 
lost ground. The National acknowledged its defeat. The con- 
stituency was separated into three parts — the Monarchists, the 
Bonapartists, a hitherto unsuspected party, and the Communists ; 
nor could there be a doubt, that the return of three such men as 
Pierre Leroux, Proudhon, and Lagrange, greatly encouraged and 
stimulated the partisans of the Social and Democratic Republic, 
now on the eve of bringing their forces to the test of a trial at 
arms. The agitation that prevailed in the city was not in the 
least discouraged by the passing of this measure. The attroii'pe- 
meitts continued. The printed proclamation of the law was 
torn down, and trampled on with contumely. The house of M. 
Thiers was assailed by the mob. 

The Assembly continued to sit and discuss a variety of top- 
ics, connected generally with financial projects and economical 
schemes, enough to show where lay the evils, but without suffi- 
cient force to apply the necessary remedies. 

While the Assembly seemed to be involved in an entangled 
maze of minor propositions, in presence of a society that required 
some great overmastering example of courage and self-reliance, 
in order to rally all who yet felt well, and v/ho would, under 
proper leaders, take their stand on the side of order — the Ex- 
ecutive Commission of Government, which ought to have afford- 
ed a proper impetus to the parliament, was itself distracted, and 
that not so much by the disorganization of the working classes, 
as by the ominous rising of the star of Napoleon through the 
menacing chaos. 

The return of Louis Napoleon for the city, and at the same 
time for several departments, showed that a moment of hesita- 
tion, at least, had arrived, which, if not corrected, would speedily 



DECREE TO EXCLUDE HIM. 143 

take a decided color in a reactionary sense against the Republic. 
The Executive Commission resolved, therefore, to bring in a de- 
cree for the expulsion of this member of the Bonaparte family, 
from the throne of France, or rather that he should be excepted 
from the benefit of the repeal of that law, by which the excluded 
family was allowed to return. The ground of the exclusion was 
to be the attempts that he had made at Strasbourg and Boulogne, 
in the name of the Sejiatus Consultc of the year XIII. to have 
himself made Emperor with Republican Institutions. He was 
held, therefore, by the Executive Commission of Government, to 
come within the category of Pretenders. 

The time chosen for the presentation of this law, was coinci- 
dent with a demand for a vote of confidence, raised upon an 
application for a grant of 100,000 francs a month, partly for 
necessary expenditure, and partly for secret service. The Gov- 
ernment had felt that it was losing ground in the opinion of the 
Assembly, as well as out of doors. The presence of Ledru-Rollin 
at the supreme direction, and of such men as Flocon and Recurt 
in the ministry, with the Clubs openly at work, a licentious 
press, the unlimited mob agitation of the streets, and the occa- 
sional expressions from ministers themselves, at once groveling 
before the new power of demagogueism, and alarming to men of 
property, whose rights were treated with that kind of sans fagon, 
that implied sympathy with the prejudices against capitalists, 
raised by the Socialists and Communists. M. de Lamartine 
took upon himself the task of entering into a sort of family ex- 
planation with the Assembly ; but the history of the debate and 
of the day — of the incidents within, and the events without — 
having formed one of those dramatic combinations, so curiously 
characteristic of the march of the Revolution, that we must en- 
deavor to bring the scene before our readers. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, at the opening of the proceedings, 
claimed attention, for the purpose of disclaiming the agitation 
that had been excited in the name of his cousin, and of answer- 
ing for the loyalty, not only of his intentions, but of those of all 
the Bonaparte family, with respect to the Republic : he was 
supported by Pierre Bonaparte, who echoed the sentiments ex- 



144 VOTE OF CONFIDENCE—DUPRAT. 

pressed by Napoleon. After a few ominous hints from M. Flocon 
about measures taken for the security of the Republic, M. Pascal 
Duprat opened the serious business of the day by presenting the 
report of the Committee, to whom, according to usage, had been 
referred the consideration of the demand for 100,000 francs a 
month, in which was involved the vote of confidence. 

This M. Duprat was a gentleman who came forward in the 
early meetings of the Assembly, and seemed destined to be one 
of the young promising school of statesmen, who were to super- 
sede the worn out veterans of the parliament ; but like the stars 
of Beranger, he appeared only that he might file, file, et di?,'parait. 
He was one of those half-socialist, half-mystic writers, who would 
have been of the school of Lamartine, had Lamartine been able 
to found a school. He was of a tall, gentlemanly appearance, 
well suited to follow in the train of so distingue a philosopher. 
On M. Duprat devolved the occasional task of provoking explan- 
ations arranged beforehand behind the curtain ; and no man 
could perform the part better of an impartial friend, who had 
suspended his judgment, but ready, though his heart-strings 
should be torn, to join in a vote of condemnation, should such be 
deserved. A young man who can throw back his clustering 
locks, with well-affected resolution, and keep his countenance, is 
an invaluable ministerial ally, a most graceful master of ceremo- 
nies to lead in the blushing delinquent, ready to plead innocence, 
and finish with a pirouette before an enraptured auditory. 

M. Duprat led in M. de Lamartine, and so well, that he was 
soon afterward raised from a socialist, or half-socialist reviewer 
— for all the Lamartineites delighted in demi-tints — to be em- 
bassador extraordinary to Vienna, whither he never went. It 
was into more obscure quarters that this star did file, file, et dis- 
parait. The report of course was favorable to ministers. It was, 
nevertheless, disputed by M. Paul Sevaistre, whose physiognomy 
is lost to memory. He accused the Clubs of being the true 
source of present evils, and attacked the Government for its 
weak indulgence of these foci of agitation. The street mobs 
were but symptoms of the evil, but the evil itself lay in these 
Clubs. 



BABAUD-LARIBIERE— BEDEAU. 145 

If we forget the couiitenaiice of M. Sevaistre, we can well call 
to mind that of Babaud-Laribiere, one of the most zealous defend- 
ers of the Republican Executive. He is a small, neat, pretty 
man, with an enormous beard, to which he bears a lover's devo- 
tion. No pet cat was ever treated with more affectionate ten- 
derness ; all the perfumes of Arabia nestled like spirits of the air 
about it. Such a beard 'promenaded, as the French idiom has 
it, through a field of nightingales, might tempt them from the 
bosoms of roses. His strength lay in his hair ; for he had the 
city-shuffling, rather than the round, rolling, oriental gait ; and 
except the beard and head, but little more could be seen above 
the tribune. As a writer oi feuilletans, Babaud was sentimental, 
and introduced a new line, for the purpose of doing away preju- 
dices about mhalliance. In his soft semi-columns at the foot of 
the newspaper. Counts abandoned the prejudices that had cloud- 
ed the misunderstood perfection of the blanchisseuse ; and if the 
coronet was forever dashed from the brow of high-born beauty, 
the superior grisette — steeped to her pretty little bormet in phi- 
losophy — would not stoop to pick it up. At the tribune, Ba- 
baud was a Boanerges — a son of thunder. He blamed the Gov- 
ernment for its longanimity. It had left the enemies of the He- 
public in the enjoyment of situations bestowed by the Monarchy, 
and had neglected those who had sacrificed all in its service — 
" even their honor." There was an escapade I — A sacrifice of 
honor I What a letting out of the cat I But we must not be 
vulgar in the presence of Babaud-Laribiere. 

We pass by another speaker to come to General Bedeau. 
The Citizen-General who now appeared at the tribune, is one of 
the most distinguished of that young school of Generals, brought 
into light by the long military occupation of Algeria. His cha- 
racteristic is said to be administrative power. His head is large 
and massive, his eye deep-sunk and shrewd, and his voice of that 
clear, sharp character, that gives the impression of keenness. 
Yet this able, active General, who was to fall severely, although 
not mortally wounded, in defending the cause of order, within a 
lew days, had shared the fatal fatuity with which all seemed to 
have been seized in February. He allowed, because his orders 

G 



146 LAMARTINE'S DEFENSE OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

bewildered him from their contradictory character, the mob to 
rush across the bridge leading to the Chamber, and to turn out 
the Deputies. His present speech could hardly be more unfor- 
tunate for his interests, for he not only rose to make a declaration 
of Republican faith, but to throw ridicule on the pretenders who 
would parody the Emperor, and to answer for the fidelity of the 
army, should its services be required. His adhesion to the Re- 
port was not, however, unqualified. He called for a practical 
performance of the promises which had been made for the repul- 
sion of the fomenters of anarchy, and reserved the grant of his 
support until such promises were carried out. 

So direct a challenge as this, gave the signal to M. de Lamar- 
tine that the m.oment had arrived for him to make his promised 
speech. He began by stating, that what was wanting at the 
present moment, was light upon the questions that were engaging 
public attention. Was it true, he asked, that the Government 
was divided, and leading diiferent ways ? No ! It was true, 
he acknowledged, that when the Provisional Government was 
suddenly formed, and in a manner and under circumstances so 
extraordinary, persons of different views were necessarily thrown 
together ; but as soon as an intermediate government was in- 
stalled, there was no longer dissentiment. If there was, they 
would feel it to be their duty, as honorable men, to bring their 
differences before the Assembly. While he admitted that dis- 
sensions prevailed among the Provisional Government, he yet 
pronounced the warmest eulogies on all its members, whom he 
held up as inevitably exposed to calumnies from the nature of 
their position, for which they could only hope to be recompensed 
by the impartial judgment of posterity. He then drew a large 
and brilliant picture of the acts that had been accomplished, 
showing how, out of disorder, had been recomposed the political, 
administrative, material, financial, diplomatic, and military forces 
of the country. 

Exhausted by the effort he had made, the orator claimed 
permission to repose. While he was seated, with Republican 
simplicity, on the steps of the tribune, and chatting unceremoni- 
ously with his friends, an incident occurred without, which was 



RENEWED AGITATION— BONAPARTISM. 147 

calculated, as had now become usual, to operate upon proceedings 
within. 

From the time of the invasion of the Chamber, on the 1 5th 
of May, the military defense of the Chamber had become a 
matter of serious preoccupation. At all times, there was a 
strong force in the immediate neighborhood, but in addition to 
this, precautions would be had recourse to according as the 
reports of the police indicated more or less danger. At times, 
the bridge leading to the Chamber would be barred to passen- 
gers. At other times, not merely the bridge, but the Place de 
la Concorde itself, would be closed. Occasionally, some pieces 
of artillery would be pointed in the faces of imaginary mobs. In 
fact, the exterior of the Chamber had been converted into a 
barometer, from which might be calculated the mercurial state 
of Club-feeling. 

The election of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte for Paris, and 
several departments, had opened a fresh source of agitation, which 
came mingling with the currents of Socialism, Communism, and 
all those other turbid springs that descended from the Faubourgs. 
The doubt as to what the Assembly might do, attracted masses 
of people toward that quarter. Large groups would form near 
the bridge, on the bridge, and particularly on the Place de la 
Concorde, whenever the sun was endurable ; and when the heat 
proved too oppressive, the ruarroniers of the Tuileries Gardens 
would throw their softly magnificent and delicious shade over the 
politicians in blouses, with their stunted black pipes, poisoning 
the odors of flowers, that used to breathe for playful children, 
and their nurses and mothers. Among those groups might be 
seen a new race of agitating Propagandists. Hard-cheeked men, 
wearing stiff' military stocks, and with the old unmistakable 
whisker, cut to the boot-like shape that Italy presents on a map 
of Europe. These men told how fields were won. They had 
served under the Empire. 

On this day, there were crowds on the Place de la Concorde, 
among whom it was evident a rising Bonapartist sympathy was 
beginning to manifest itself It was deemed necessary to push 
back these groups from time to time ; and as Clement Thomas, 



148 LAMARTINE'S COUP-DE-THEATRE. 

the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guards — a decided 
Anti-Bonapartist — was performing his duty, with an ill-rehshed 
zeal, a pistol shot was fired at him, accompanied by a cry of 
Vive V E')n2oereur ! The person was arrested, and there was an 
end of it. Humor, that seldom takes a story as she finds it, or 
who — ^not to be unjust to the lady of the hundred tongues — 
never waits to know the truth, but takes the head or the tail 
thereof, whichever first comes to mouth, and then fits on the 
fragment to the best body she can fabricate — while running at 
full speed, this rumor trebled the shots, and trebled the cries, and 
persuaded herself into the belief that a Bonapartist conspiracy 
had broken out. 

We left M. de Lamartine seated on the steps of the tribune, 
as simply as a boy tired at play : suddenly he was seen to spring 
to his feet, in the full recovery of his native dignity. There was 
a hurrying to and fro, a whisper thrilling along the benches ; the 
President rang his bell, and the members were exhorted to take 
their places ; the galleries were subdued into awe, the fair ones 
in front leaning over, with wonder-stricken faces. M. de Lamar- 
tine began : — 

" Citizen representatives — a fatal circumstance has just inter- 
rupted the speech that I had the honor to address to the Assem- 
bly. While I was speaking of the conditions necessary for the 
reconstitution of order, and of the securities that we felt every 
day disposed to make for the preservation of authority and public 
morality, in all the faculties given by the Revolution to the 
nation — a sh-ot, several gun-shots, it is said, were fired close to 
the Commander of the National Guard of Paris ; another was 
fired on one of the brave ofiicers of the army ; and a third, I am 
assured, struck the breast of an oflicer of the National Guard. 
These gun-shots were accompanied by cries of ' Yive V Emi^e- 
reur .'' This," he continued to say, strangely forgetful of the 
emeutes at Rouen and Limoges, " was the first drop of blood 
that had stained the Revolution of the 24th of February." He 
then proceeded, while the Assembly was in a state of consterna- 
tion, to announce that the Government had, even before this 
occurrence, prepared a project of law, closing France against the 



LAMARTINE'S WEAKNESS. 149 

Pretender, who believed himself the heir of the Emperor. He 
would present it at once ; and he added, " When the audacity 
of faction is thus concocted in flagrant dclit, and taken with its 
hand in French blood, the law ought to be applied by accla- 
mation." 

This proposition was itself as much a coitp-de-theatre as a 
coup-cVetat ; rather, it was a coitp-d; etat, carried under favor of 
a coup-de-thkatre. The Assembly rang with applause, mingled 
with shouts of " Yive la Repiiblique .'" In a moment that law 
would have been carried, and Louis Napoleon Bonaparte de- 
prived of his right to sit in the Assembly, and of all his rights. 
Pvepublican fury and fierce thoughtlessness would, in a moment 
of surprise, of passing emotion, and quick credulity, have sealed 
the more slowly-deliberated and coldly- weighed decree of the 
Monarchy. Yes ; all this would have been perpetrated in an 
instant, only for the voice of General Larabit, which was heard 
in its shrill, hissing tone, protesting against such a monstrosity as 
a law voted by acclamation. He is a man of somewhat eccen- 
tric bearing, this brave General Larabit, and must have been 
handsome, with his regular features and fine black hair ; but his 
teeth are gone, and he looks faded rather than old. This living 
fragment of the Empire stopped the triumphant oratorical judg- 
ment that was about to crush the son of the good King of Hol- 
land and the beloved Hortense. Lamartine read the decree, but 
shrunk from demanding its immediate adoption. He missed his 
blow by the postponement. He committed a worse fault than 
that, if we may call it a fault : he resumed his speech. The 
man of wit will sacrifice a friend to his jest. The orator sacri- 
fices the reputation of the man of action, and the statesman, to a 
speech. M. de Lamartine spoke what had been prepared, be- 
cause it was prepared ; but that which would have been pure 
spirit without the intervening incident was now but a weak dilu- 
tion.* He had armed himself with a grand image, and he could 
not refrain from flashing it on the eyes of the Assembly. From 

* Lord Erskine knew better, when he stopped .short in an oration after 
a quarter of an hour, seeing that the point he had made told on the Jury. 
He disappointed his audience, but won his cause. 



150 VOTE OF CONFIDENCE PASSED. 

the proud position of the vindicator of the Republic from a 
threatened Emperor, he fell back into the common-place clap-trap 
of defense against an imaginary charge. He had been accused 
of conspiracy ; yes, he had " conspired with Sobrier and with 
Blanqui ; but did they know he had conspired ? He had con- 
spired as the conductor conspires with the lightning, in order to 
attract the electricity and give it an innocent direction." He 
had, in plain language, converted these men, as he fondly imag- 
ined, from their resolution to set up a dictatorship ; and, after 
all, the whole of the day's exciting proceedings did no more than 
win for M. de Lamartine the soubriquet of the Paratonnerre. 

The two Bonapartes again renewed the expression of their 
democratic sentiments, and protested against their cousin being 
held answerable for acts done in his name. 

The vote of confidence was eventually accorded by 569 to 1 12. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

AGITATION ON THE SUBJECT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON DEBATE IN THE 

ASSEMBLY REGARDING HIS ADHHSSION PORTRAIT OF LEDF^U- 

ROLLIN. 

The next day, Tuesday, the 10th of June, was all agitation 
within and without the Assembly. The question of Louis 
Napoleon Bonaparte's admission was on the order of the day. 
There was an immense display of miUtary force about the Assem- 
bly. At one moment the shops in the neighborhood of the 
Tuileries and Madeleine were closed, owing to a panic caused by 
a charge of the Garde Mobile upon an offensive mob, but which 
happily led to no bloodshed. There could be no doubt whatever 
that the rejection of Louis Napoleon would have produced an 
emeute. 

There were three reports from Committees appointed to ex- 
amine as many returns. Two were for the admission — one for 
exclusion. The reporter for admission was Jules Favre, repre- 
senting the Committee appointed to test the validity of the nom- 
ination for La Charente Inferieure. M. Buchez, representing the 
tenth bureau, opposed his admission for the Department of the 
Seine. M. Desmares, representing the sixth bureau, recom- 
mended his admission for the Department of I'Yonne. 

M. Jules Favre, the Ex-Secretary of Ledru-Pvollin, and Ex- 
Under-Secretary of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in supporting 
the admission of Louis Napoleon, found himself in his proper 
element. He had his vengeance to take for the mortification to 
which he had been exposed by the cruel isolation in which he 
Lad been left, on the application for leave to prosecute Louis 
Blanc. In the well-assumed attitude of an impartial judge and 
independent vindicator of the rights of the people to choose their 
representatives, he was deahng the severest condemnation upon 
his own tyrannical interference with the rights of electors, exhib- 



152 QUESTION AS TO ADMISSION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON. 

ited in liis Ministerial Circulars and dictatorial delegation to 
irresponsible Commissioners. What matter? The Government 
he wanted to punish stood committed to the introduction of a 
decree for the exclusion of Louis Napoleon, while a vote of the 
Assembly for the admission of the Prince would nullify such de- 
cree, and shake the Executive Commission to pieces. A well- 
devised scheme of vengeance was dressed in the dignified trappings 
of law and popular rights. " Louis Napoleon was a representa- 
tive of the people. Let him come and repeat the generous 
expressions that had been pronounced in that tribune by mem- 
bers of his family." 

To such a masterly dialectician it was idle to oppose the loose, 
though warm and earnest declamation of poor M. Buchez, the 
Ex-President of the Assembly, already made scape-goat for those 
whose personal dignity had suffered in the invasion of the 1 5th 
of May. M. Viellard, the aged tutor of Louis Napoleon, read 
a letter from his pupil, protesting against his name being used as 
an excuse for intrigue, and expressing how ardently he desired to 
see the Republic established on a sure basis. M. Fresneau, a 
young member, who gave promise of ability, protested at once in 
favor of the Republic, and in favor of the heir of so much glory. 
Louis Blanc, whose ambition it was to stand well with Corsica, 
for which he had made great and successful efforts to be returned, 
and who was connected remotely, it was said, with the Bonapartes 
and the Pozzo di Borgos, carried the Montagnards with him to 
the side of Louis Napoleon. In doing so, he broached a doctrine 
touching the Presidency of the Republic, which was afterward 
adopted by his party, that there ought to be no President at all ; 
that the sovereignty should lie with the people, through their 
representatives, and that Presidency, except simple Presidency of 
the Assembly, would be Monarchy in another shape. 

Ledru-RoUin came forward now in the name of the Govern- 
ment to support the report, which went for the exclusion of Louis 
Napoleon. How could they call the votes of a few departments 
the voice of the whole people ? Were they, he continued to 
ask, better Revolutionists than the authors of the Declaration of 
Rights of 1793, and they laid it down that the sovereignty of 



LEDRU-ROLLIN. 153 



the people lay in the whole people, and that when that sover- 
eignty, existing in the whole, Avas violated, insurrection became 
justifiable. If one department might elect Louis Napoleon, an- 
other department might elect the Prince de Joinville, or the Due 
de Bordeaux ; and if all the other departments protested against 
such an act, the sovereignty of the people in its ensemble should 
be respected. He approved of the act by which the Bonaparte 
family had been reinstated in their rights — it was a magnani- 
mous act, and worthy of the Republic ; but when they found, 
with respect to one member, a flagrant conspiracy against the 
Republic, they were called on to maintain the law, as it existed, 
against him. He then went on to state, that an examination 
was going forward which had led to arrests. At Paris there 
was a system of organized seduction, by which persons were en- 
trapped, in order to form a new Imperial Guard ; money was 
distributed ; wine given in profusion to drink the toast of the 
Emperor Napoleon. An attempt had been committed the day 
before in their own neighborhood. They might have all heard, 
as he had, between the Porte St. Denis and the Porte St. Mar- 
tin, the cries of Vive V Emyereur ! Three Napoleonist jour- 
nals had appeared within the last few days. In presence of 
such facts their duty was clear. They should maintain the law 
of 1832. 

Ledru-RoUin and the Government were beaten. And now a 
word about Ledru-Pwollin, Notwithstanding that I was under 
the influence of prejudice against this gentleman, entirely on ac- 
count of his public conduct — a prejudice too generally shared, to 
make the avowal a shame — I must confess that his oratorical 
power took me by surprise. Sincerity of conviction is admittedly 
a main element of oratorical success, and there could be no 
doubt of the sincerity of Ledru-Rollin's love for the Republic, 
and of his apprehension of a second Bonaparte. The Revolu- 
tion had thrown up many men, but of those who had hitherto 
lain in obscurity, very few proved of any value, even in the way 
of talent. The names that still shone out most conspicuously 
were old familiar names. The Republic had not yet found its 
incarnation. The nearest representation of its spirit seemed to 



154 LEDRU-ROLLIN. 



be Ledru-Rollin. In his novel position, this revolutionist ex- 
hibited qualities, such as almost caused him to be regarded as a 
new man. The Chamber of Deputies w^as not his sphere. He 
entered it under the repugnant fame of a prosecuted, and if not 
pardoned, neglected speech. Violence so great, as to provoke 
the arm of the law, and so pointless, as on mature reflection to 
inspire but contempt, proved but an unpropitious herald. Nor 
did the new hero, who aspired to the leadership of the Repub- 
lican party, inspire much reverential dread. He looked a man 
that would elbow others out of his way, take the first place 
by storm, lose his breath, slip and tumble, amidst jibes and 
laughter. 

His person is large and bulky, his face full, round, and ruddy, 
his eye small and restless ; and, taken altogether, one would say 
that he was a jovial, reckless fellow, full of animal spirits, who, 
while aspiring to lead, was likely to become an instrument in 
the hands of acute schemers, whose bidding he would do, be that 
bidding what it might, rather than not be chief His nature is 
rather thoughtless than bad ; but capable of badness, through a 
readiness to accept, as inevitable necessities, the most perverse 
rules of political conduct. He might be used as the powerful, 
blind battering-ram of factions, to level the walls of the State, 
but never could he rise to the rank of an intelligent leader, 
or evince firmness sufficient to act as moderator. M. Ledru- 
Rollin possesses one quality, which of itself explains much of 
his showy, but ephemeral success. He has concentrated his 
attention upon one subject — that of the history of the Revolu- 
tion. He knows it in all its details. He has it at his fingers' 
ends. Few Frenchmen ever so concentrate their faculties upon 
one point ; more generally do they imitate the versatility of their 
Voltaire, aspiring to be thought acquainted with all possible 
subjects. 

In this respect they differ widely from the Englishman, whose 
characteristic boast is that he knows his business, and feels no 
sense of humiliation, but often the contrary, that he knows noth- 
ing else. This generality of range makes the Frenchman the 
more agreeable talker, but the worse doer. He skims the field, 



LEDRU-ROLLIN. 155 



but can not sink the mine-shaft. A debate on foreign politics 
will set a multitude of French deputies on making a tour of the 
globe. In the English House of Commons, it is listened to with 
languid inattention. For the same reason, a question of law 
that would excite all the interest of the English Parliament, be- 
cause of its local personal bearing on individual rights, would 
pass unheeded in the Chamber of Deputies, The English like 
law debates ; the French rail against avocasserie. Ledru-Rollin 
would be shocked to learn that he possessed any quality in com- 
mon with Englishmen, yet he owes his influence to the limited 
but accurate range of his information regarding the great Revo- 
lution. The best, perhaps the only good speech he ever made 
in the Chamber of Deputies, was his last. It turned upon a 
law of the Convention. M. Hebert, the Minister of Justice, 
sought to justify the prohibition of the right of public meeting 
by a law of the Convention, of doubtful application, and which 
had fallen into disuse. The Minister had, moreover, broached 
some flagrant heresies, and had, by the arbitrary character of 
his doctrines, tended not only to precipitate the Revolution, but 
to give it the sanctity of violated principles, warranting any 
sacrifice for their assertion on the part of a spirited and free 
people. 

M. Paillet, an eminent member of the Paris bar, and a very 
elegant speaker, was walking to the tribune, when Ledru-Rollin, 
with characteristic audacity, sprang before him. It must be 
confessed, that if the evidence of perfect aptitude for the task he 
had undertaken, could justify his assumption, he stands acquitted 
of the charge of gentle violence, which his eminent legal rival 
might have brought against him. Instead of declamation or 
sarcasm, M. Ledru-Rollin confined himself to a clear, terse ex- 
position of the law, and with perfect tact and judgment, esti- 
mated the effect to be produced on the public mind, by an easy 
confutation of the Minister of Justice, It was from this open- 
ing, made from the firm footing of law, that we next see Ledru- 
Rollin leading the armed democracy into the temple of his own 
triumph. As the Pwcvolution formed all his knowledge, so was 
it his passion ; he worshiped its excesses, with the blind partial- 



156 LEDRU-ROLLIN 



ity of a lover ; and as it was natural for such an admirer to 
imitate, and choose for himself a model from his own mythology, 
in which the Dantons, Couthons, St. Justs, and Robespierres, 
were the Jupiters, Neptunes, and Apollos— he chose Danton, 
and so acted, as if according to some metempsychosis, the spirit 
of the great tribune had passed into his own not less Herculean 
frame. Ledru-Rollin desires to pass for the Danton of Febru- 
ary, and he has so far succeeded, that he is to Danton what 
1848 is to 1793. The former is to the latter, what a tragedy, 
on the stage is to a tragedy in real life ; only that there did 
happen in this instance, what sometimes has occurred before the 
curtain- — the buttons slipped from the foils, and real blood 
was shed. 

A people too long steeped in voluptuousness, and who pant 
for enjoyments after the over-excited sensibility has been relaxed, 
get a taste for crime, colored by romance. Besotted voluptu- 
ousness in power has marked the coming fall of scepters and 
thrones, by cruelties. A besotted people acts in the same way, 
unless restrained by the authority and example of some sound 
part. When Louis XIV. passed the plow over the monastery 
of the enlightened, but ascetic Jansenists, he gave full rein to 
license and bigotry : when he revoked the Edict of Nantes, he 
deprived his people, in the same way, of the wholesome rivalry 
of Protestant example. Priesthood and people alike ran rapidly 
into corruption, and the consequence was, the catastrophes of 
1793 and 1794. There was a gloomy grandeur in the crimes 
of" the Convention, calculated to stimulate the jaded fancies of a 
well-read, but ill-taught generation. The theaters of the Boule- 
vards, the 'R^om.^in-feuilleton of Dumas and Sue, the hybrid Ger- 
man-Gallican-Spanish horrors of Hugo, had left their coppery 
taste on parched and thirsty tongues. A real drama was wanted, 
of which Paris should be the theater, with a general license of 
imitation to the provinces. The only difficulty was, as to the 
cast of parts. So many had been deifying Robespierre — the 
last chant of Lamartine, which, from making him high-priest 
of his fame, converted him into the high-priest of February — 
that intoxicating melody confounding the groans of the guillotine ; 



LEDRU-ROLLIN. 157 



this, with more prosaic efforts, had raised up a host of. candidates 
for the part. 

Louis Blanc appeared to have distanced all competitors ; but 
although only one grown viper might look triumphant, there was 
yet a full nest, with ready poison and ready fangs. There were 
fewer candidates, although still too many, for the Heberts and 
Couthons. There was but one for Vergniaud, the orator of the 
Girondists ; and no one disputed the claim of Ledru-Rollin to 
Danton. One reason was, that Danton was but the rude pioneer, 
the unintelligent precursor of liis more subtle pseudo-philosophical 
rival. His death was but the removal of the machine, that, 
having battered the wall, lay an obstacle in the breach, across 
the tide of the advancing victors. Another reason was, that 
there were few who could dress the part. 

Even French Revolutionists can not turn out a large stock of 
very big men. Ledru-Rollin was big enough to fill the part to 
which he aspired. He wanted the lion-like roar of his awful 
prototype, and, affecting it, made himself hoarse ; so that, after a 
short while speaking, if the eyes were shut, the ears would fancy 
that they listened to the croaking of a gigantic frog. Let him 
roar like any nightingale, our Bully Bottom never could inspire 
terror, or create any impression more unfavorable than that of an 
enfant brutal. When the rude, blustering hon enfant had pos- 
sessed himself of the sword of State and the key of the treasury 
together, people naturally feared that the joke might be carried 
too far. The quantity of unaccounted-for money that had been 
spent was something real, although the brandishing of the sword 
might give no more than fright ; and at length sober people 
began to conclude that Monsieur Ledru-Rolhn was a very dan- 
gerous man. Like Danton, he was a politician — not a Sociahst. 
He had nothing in common with the Blancs, Leroux, and Proud- 
hons — the Cabets, Raspails, and Blanquis. His idea of revolu- 
tion was not spuriously philosophical. He wanted to create 
armies of the north, and armies of the south. He panted to see 
the Republican flag, red or tri-color, borne at the same time over 
the Alps and across the Rhine. He panted to deluge Germany 
with troops, and give the hand to the Poles, on the understanding 



158 LEDRU-ROLLIN. 



of destroying Monarchy in Europe. He adored even the assignats. 
He would re-enact the Revolution, M^ith all its consequences. He 
would continue the Convention, and make it perpetual. In all 
this he was thoroughly in earnest, and so far had the advantage 
of earnestness ; but, as he was obliged to tamper with Socialist 
and Communist sects, whose doctrines he could not comprehend, 
and must have hated and despised for the obstacles they threw 
in his way, so did his earnestness give way to temporizing, for 
which he was unfitted, and by degrees he became weak, and 
more weak. 

Upon the day which first brought Ledru-Rollin before us, he 
appeared to most advantage. He was not at that period com- 
promised by damaging negotiations with Socialists. He had the 
feeling of the thoroughly Republican part of the Assembly with 
him against the threatened Empire. And was that Republic, 
for which he had so long, and at length so victoriously struggled, 
about to merge into a new sort of Monarchy ? Was it to be 
sacrificed to the shadow of a name — to a popular delusion ? Had 
they been engaged in making for themselves a trap into which 
they were to fall, amidst the laughter of the world ? So thought, 
so felt, so feared, the disciple of Danton ; and in the reality of his 
fear he became eloquent, touching, powerful, and rose to the dignity 
of first champion of the French Republic. The Assembly respond- 
ed to every sentence — the audience and the orator were at home ; 
as he felt, they felt ; as he spoke, they responded ; he was mas- 
ter of the Assembly. As he descended, he was complimented by 
a throng of admirers ; he was congratulated, and embraced, and 
— ^beaten. The mysterious murmur of the rising emeute shook 
each hand as it dropped the ball into the urn. Nevertheless, the 
orator had fairly won a triumph, and it was his greatest, and 
indeed last ; for he was nearer the edge of dismissal than he could 
have dreamed. 

We have seen that upon occasion M. Ledru-Rollin could 
assume the cold manner of a law pleader, and adapt himself to 
the proprieties of parliamentary discussion. As a demagogue, he 
ought to be efiective ; but, curiously enough, the Revolution that 
opened wide the Clubs, and gave the thoroughfares to spouters of 



LEDRU-ROLLIN. 159 



all kinds, has not proved favorable to that style which would 
appear so popular in its character. M. Ledru-Rollin has warmth, 
fluency, look, action, such as ought to strike a mixed assembly ; 
but he has not drunk at the well of the new philosophy ; his 
brain does not reel with the mystic materiaUsm of the school of 
anti-property and anti-family profligates, who fancy that they are 
filled with a holy fanaticism. He sees too clearly what he wants, 
although that which he wants is extravagant and unattainable. 
The gentleman, the man of the world, the sharer in the pleasures 
of society, the sympathizer with the conventionalisms and rules 
of the civilized world, all cry out against him. Not being a 
moderate Republican, and not being a Sociahst, he is nothing. 
The huge painted reputation that was to have borne the flag of 
the Red Republic aloft, has already burst — ^M. Ledru-RolHn has 
ceased to be any thing in the revolutionary world. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

LOUIS NAPOLEON RESIGNS HIS LETTER EXCITES ANGER BILL 

AFFECTING OLD OFFICERS CAUSES DISSATISFACTION FATAL COL- 
LISION AT GUERET PIERRE LEROUX, THE COMMUNIST. 

It was fully expected that, on the following day, Wednesday, 
the 14th, some communication would have taken place relative 
to the vote admitting Louis Napoleon. It was known, in fact, 
that the Executive Commission of Government had held a con- 
sultation with Ministers, on the propriety of resigning. The 
design was abandoned, and, by a tacit agreement not to embar- 
rass the Government at such a moment, no notice was taken in 
the Assembly of the rumors afloat. 

The next day was not, however, to pass over without a scene. 
The debate turned on Algeria, which it was proposed to assimi- 
late to France, a proposition resisted, and not carried into effect 
when the Chairman announced that he had received a letter 
from the Citizen Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. This letter, from 
the extraordinary emotion it caused, we beg to introduce. 

"London, 14th June, 1848. 
" Monsieur le President, 

" I was about to leave for my post, when I learn that my 
election serves as a pretext for deplorable troubles and fatal errors. 
I have not sought the honor of becoming a representative of the 
people, because I was aware of the unjust suspicions of which I 
have been the object ; and I should feel even less disposed to seek 
for power. If the people impose duties upon me, I shall knoio 
how to fulfill them ; but I disavow all those who lend me am- 
bitious intentions, such as I have not. My name is a symbol of 
order, of nationality, and of glory ; and it is with the greatest 
pain I should see it serve to augment the troubles and divisions 
of the country. To avoid so great a misfortune, I should prefer 



LOUTS NAPOLEON'S LETTER— ITS EFFECT. ifll 



remaining in exile : I am ready to make any sacrifice for tlio 
sake of the happiness of France. Have the goodness, M. le 
President, to communicate tliis letter to my colleagues. I send 
you a copy of my letter of thanks to the Electors, Receive the 
assurance of my distinguished sentiments. 

" Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte." 

This letter excited indescribable indignation. General Cavaig- 
nac, then Minister of War, said that his emotion was so great 
that he could not give it adequate expression. What he re- 
marked, he said, in a piece destined to become historical was, 
that the word Republic was not once mentioned. This remark 
was hailed with shouts of Vive la Republique I M, Baune 
exclaimed, that he would protest against the declaration of war 
made by a Pretender. They did not fear an 18th Brumaire. 
This was met by loud cries of '' No — no I" and " Let him come 
and try it." M. Anthony Thouret signalized particularly the 
phrase, " If the people impose duties upon me, I shall know how 
to fulfill them ;" that phrase he considered a call to revolt 
against the French Republic, and demanded, on the instant, 
that Louis Napoleon be declared traitor to his country. M. 
Flocon disdainfully reminded the Assembly that they did not 
manifest emotion on the 15th of May, and ought not now to 
exhibit such before an individual. The Minister of War moved, 
that no resolution should be taken on the spot, but that they should 
adjourn till next day. M. Jules Favre, who had been mainly 
instrumental in having the election of Louis Napoleon ratified, 
moved that the letter be placed in the hands of the Minister of 
Justice. The Minister of Finance supported the motion for 
adjournment, contemptuously telling the Assembly that they 
were, by their anger, doing the Pretender too much honor. M. 
Duprat denounced the address to the Electors as factious. 

The Commander of the National Guards next ascended the 
tribune, and stated that to-morrow, if his information did not 
mislead him, it was probably a battle in the streets they might 
have to fight. He would advise them to be prepared for a bat- 
tle as well as a discussion to-morrow. This announcement pro- 



162 SECOND LETTER FROM LOUIS NAPOLEON. 

duced much additional agitation, which, when it had a Uttle 
subsided, General Thomas proposed that they should declare 
that whoever took up arms in the cause of a Pretender to despot- 
ism, and for foreign gold, should be pronounced a traitor to his 
country. This was hailed with acclamation. The Finance 
Minister rose, amid violent tumult, to state that measures amply 
sufficient for the preservation of the public peace had been taken, 
and that the Assembly might adjourn till next day, when he 
was quite sure there would be no battle ; upon which this agi- 
tated Assembly separated at seven o'clock, amid cries of Vive la 
Republique ! 

When the Assembly met the following day, the renewal of the 
debate relative to Louis Napoleon was stopped by the following 
letter of resignation : 

" London, June 15, 1848. 
<' Monsieur le President, 

'< I felt pride in having been elected representative of the peo- 
ple of Paris, and in three other departments. It was in my 
opinion an ample reparation for thirty years' exile, and six years' 
captivity. But the injurious suspicions to which my election 
has given rise, the disturbance of which it was the pretext, and 
the hostility of the Executive Power, impose upon me the duty 
of refusing an honor which I am supposed to have obtained by 
intrigue. I desire order and the maintenance of a wise, great, 
and liberal Republic ; and since I involuntarily cause disorder, 
I deposit, not without regret, my resignation in your hands. 
Calmness, I trust, will now be restored, and enable me to return 
to France as the humblest of citizens, but also as one the most 
devoted to the repose and prosperity of his country. 

" Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte." 

This letter caused no particular mark of interest, although it 
relieved the Assembly from the renewal of an unpleasant dis- 
cussion. The Assembly took up an election petition, and con- 
cluded with Algeria. The city too, presented no deviation from 
its habitual scenes, and all apprehension about Louis Napoleon, 



THE ASSEMBLY. 163 



appeared to have subsided. How well it is we can not read the 
future, and are allowed to enjoy things as they come ! So flat 
a termination of a formidable incident warrants a flat remark. 

With the resignation of Louis Napoleon, the city returned to 
an apparent state of tranquillity, and his name seems to have 
passed out of recollection, as if the whole incident was but a 
lively episode, the interest of which had served only to form a 
momentary diversion from the main plot of the revolution. 

The proceedings in the Assembly, on Saturday the 17th of 
June, were sufficiently animated. There was, in the first place, 
a sharp discussion with regard to a petition addressed by a num- 
ber of officers of rank, who had been forced into retirement for- 
ever from active service, by a decree of the Provisional Govern- 
ment — a measure which gave great offense to the superior 
officers of the army, and tended to turn them against the 
Republic. The measure was, however, maintained ; for it was 
the members of the Provisional Government that were still in 
power. 

A more serious subject, because it bore upon the passions of 
the lower order — already in such a dangerous state of ferment- 
ation — was that introduced by the new Communist member, 
M. Pierre Leroux, relative to a collision that had taken place in 
the department of La Creuse, owing to the resistance of the 
people to the collection of the 45 centimes additional tax, im- 
posed by the Provisional Government in its financial necessities. 
At a place called Gueret, the people converted a tree of liberty 
into a gallows, by suspending to it a rope, replaced the tri-color 
by a black flag, and announced that any person committing the 
crime of paying the odious impost should be hung. The National 
Guards were called out, and after an irritating parley of some 
hours, a couple of shots came from the crowd, on which the 
National Guards fired, when ten were killed, and five wounded. 
Such was the circumstance that the lately-elected Communist 
member for Paris brought under the notice of Government, and 
the Government could only deplore so fatal an occurrence, while 
it was declared to be impossible to renounce the tax. 

M. Pierre Leroux had already made a speech on the subject 



164 THE FRENCH NO COLONISTS. 

of colonizing Algeria — a fruitful subject for a practical states- 
man. The French are not gifted with colonizing powers ; they 
have not the patient industry and laborious self-denial suited for 
colonists. Paris is the paradise of Frenchmen, and to leave it, 
is exile and misery. In Paris the well-instructed and refined 
find salons ; and the workmen, clubs. All find promenades and 
theaters ; all are easily indulged, and all must have indulgence. 
The animal spirits of Frenchmen are of the light, effervescing 
kind, that run off in chat, gossip, and criticism, and play off 
their emotions on kindred spectacles and bespangled puerilities. 
It is all expansion, and no concentration — ^no settled and deep 
purposes, long looked at, and calmly resolved. The consequence 
is, that the northern coast of Africa, opposite the shores of 
France, and forming another arm. of that basin to which the 
wealth of the old world converges, to whose banks on all sides 
civilization has repaired — that tempting, gifted country, the site 
of old Carthage, the residence of Saint Augustine, the early seat 
of Christianity, is, after eighteen years in the hands of the 
French, what barbarism has made it ! In their hands it is a 
vast military hunting-ground, like that torn from the Ameers of 
Scinde, in which the wild sons of the desert are the prey. It is 
a mere military possession — a burthen and a drain on France ; 
a fiery furnace, in which her young conscripts are annually de- 
voured ; a school of demoralization for her army, perhaps by 
way of compensation ; a safety-valve for Europe. It is an out- 
^ let for French enterprise, but a shame to French ability. 

M. Pierre Leroux, when treating this vast subject, treated it 
exactly as he did the emeute at Gueret, and, in fact, as he did 
every other question on which he subsequently spoke. M. Le- 
roux would think of nothing, or speak of nothing, but his own 
model scheme of society. He saw in Algeria a fine theater, 
where to establish a colony of Communists. He saw in the fatal 
collision at Gueret, evidence afforded of the hollow foundation on 
which a perverted civilization, as he took it to be, stood. The 
workmen of Paris had taken a dreamer from his closet, and made 
him their representative. Among a set of Germans, who had 
passed their lives in. the seclusion of a university, smoking and 



PIERRE LEROUX. 165 



building cloudy realms for the imagination to wander in, Pierre 
Leroux might have found disciples. Among a set of tradesmen 
he proved a bore — 7ii plus ni vioins. A less dangerous Diogenes 
never rolled his tub into the haunts of civilized men. His appear- 
ance was that of a man imiocent of the ways of the world, and 
absent even to the point of forgetting the wash-hand basin and 
brush. Beneath a prodigious mass, or mop of black hair, as wild 
and entangled as the brushwood of a vii^gin forest, slumber a pair 
of misty, dreamy eyes, while the spectator's ears are regaled with 
the sounds of a sing-song voice, going through an interminable 
history of human society, from the earliest days to the present 
times, for the purpose of showing that the world has hitherto 
been on a wrong social track, and struggling in the toils of a 
great mistake. So httle have Leroux's treatises been read, that 
a couple of speeches were listened to with comparative attention. 
By degrees they began to be as tedious as twice-told tales. The 
auditory would begin to doubt if they had not heard the same 
sentences before. Memory, that people call treacherous, by a 
modest self-application, proved doubly treacherous with regard to 
her devoted worshiper, Leroux, all whose efforts proved to be but 
one well-learned theme. No ; he did not learn his lesson by 
heart, but used to read it. If he did not tax his memory, as we 
were by a strange lapse of our own forgetting, he was not sparing 
of his industry, for he used to commit to paper his endless dis- 
sertations. One day, however, a wdcked wight, determined to 
extinguish our light, produced one of the philosopher's printed 
books, and proved that the essay or speech to which they had 
been listening M'-as a mere transcript by the philosopher himself 
from his printed publications. 

Pierre Leroux never well recovered this blow. When he 
attempted to read afterward, a resolution was gravely proposed 
that no books should be read at the tribune. Well do I recol- 
lect the scowl with which the philosopher slowly ascended the 
Mountain. 

The return of Leroux was an indication of a dangerous state 
of feeling among the lower orders ; but a better antidote to his 
pernicious doctrines could not have been allorded than his invest- 



166 PIERRE LEROUX. 



merit with power, which enabled him to make himself and his 
books equally ridiculous by a pubUc performance in the National 
Assembly. 

Let us conclude with an example which paints of itself the 
mind of this fantastic monomaniac. In a project of a Constitu- 
tion which he published, there appeared the following odd article : 

'' Ai'ticle 100. — Poplars shall be planted, and kept up with 
care, in all the communes of the Republic. The State shall 
have for its seal a cylindrical altar, surmounted by a cone, on 
which shall be a spherical ray. This seal shall be placed in the 
hands of the National Management, to be stamped, en relief of 
wax, on all treaties with foreign nations, and on all laws. Each 
of the three corps of the representation shall have for seal one of 
the solides of Revolution, whose unity composes the seal of the 
State. The Executive body shall have for seal the cylinder, or 
its cubical profile ; the Legislative Corps, the cone, or its profile, 
the equilateral triangle ; the Scientific Corps, the sphere, with 
rays, or its profile, the circle surrounded with rays. The seal of 
each of these three bodies of the national representatives shall be 
placed in the hands of the president of the corps, to be applied to 
all its acts." 



CHAPTER XX. 

M. MARIIAST. 

On Monday, the 1 9th of June, M. Marrast ascended the tri- 
bune, with a draft of the Constitution in his hand. "We shall 
speak more of M. Marrast, for the present, than of his work. 
This gentleman owes his fame and his position to the National 
newspaper, which in his hands suffered nothing from the reputa- 
tion it had acquired by its having served as the political pathway 
of Thiers, and the powerful organ of Armand Carrel. If the 
coarser, although not bolder hands, of the disciples of Godefroy 
Cavaignac, in the Reforme, thrust the mob upon the devoted 
Gardes Municipaux, who were butchered in the Chateau d'Eau 
— beckoned on the infuriated victors to the Tuileries, and then 
led them, intoxicated with triumph, to the Chamber of Deputies, 
and from thence to the H6tel-de-Ville — it was the successor of 
Armand Carrel who had prepared the way for such surprisingly 
facile triumphs. 

Godefroy Cavaignac and Armand Carrel loom through the 
past like the demigods of Republicanism. The former leant to 
Socialism ; the latter was a pure Repubhcan, who regarded the 
social institutions of society as the results of feehngs and habits 
venerable and sacred ; and to be modified by society as it ad- 
vanced, instead of being savagely dealt with by the State. 
Cavaignac and Carrel were on the point of separating, because 
the latter would not accept the doctrines with which the former 
was affected, rather than imbued, for he eventually yielded to the 
clear reasoning of his commanding friend. 

The successors of Cavaignac in the Reforme took up the dis- 
carded errors of their master, which fitted their coarse natures 
perfectly. Marrast and his friends remained true to the teach- 
ings and example that had been set them. For years before the 
Revolution of February, the National newspaper was, beyond 



168 MARRAST. 



all comparison, the most attractively, if not the best written in 
France. It was singularly terse and graphic. The year 1847 
gave ample scope to the chief writer of this formidable journal ; 
it ■was a year of corruption in all classes — -the year of persecutions 
of Ministers, and their associates and agents — of disgusting ex- 
posures, of rapid speculations for sake of boundless luxury. The 
National, while treating these matters with perfect power, yet 
did so with perfect propriety. There was intense disgust, but 
the feeling was never allowed the freedom of coarse or over- 
strained language. Neat was the operation, and skillful the ex- 
posure. It was the hand of science that laid bare the plague- 
spots. Calm and earnest, but, oh ! how cutting was the language 
of this journal, all through this melancholy year I It could be 
playful too, and never so dangerous as when in play. How 
slyly would a corner of the chateau drapery be raised, and the 
public allowed to peep at the performance of some family intrigue 
— political, of course. It would not be fair now to revert to 
scenes that might be summoned to deserted halls, under the 
shadow of misfortune. 

If the Refornie did the rough work of knocking down the 
pillars of the Monarchy, and did it easily, it was because the 
National had corroded them. If there was no fervor of friend- 
ship, no sympathy, no zeal to answer the royal summons in the 
hour of need, it was because a subtle dissolvent had been operat- 
ing too long, and had made the heart dry, and unnerved the 
hand. 

Marrast is the Voltaire who preceded the Hevolution of Feb- 
ruary. Well for him would it have been that the analogy had 
become perfect, by his not being called to make himself an actor 
in the work he did so much to prepare. Marrast, from having 
been so popular, is now one of the most unpopular of public men,, 
and yet I could never learn why. Before the Assembly met, 
Marrast was well spoken of. It was said, that at the Board of 
the Provisional Government he had manifested remarkable ability ; 
that he had prevented many sad mistakes. The best proof that 
there must have been good foundation for the favorable opinion 
entertained of Marrast among the better classes is, the fierce 



IVIARRAST. 1G9 



hatred that the Socialists began to evince toward him, because 
he had, in fact, defeated their designs. It is on record, that 
when Barbes, Blanqui, and their adherents, forced their way into 
the H6tel-de-Ville, on the 1 5th of May, after the invasion of the 
Chamber, the cry was, " We must finish with Marrast I" The 
object of their search was at the time surrounded by a strong 
body of friends in a room, which was not discovered, where they 
were determined to sell their lives dearly, for they were well 
armed. 

As the moderate Republican became unpopular, not only with 
the Sociahsts, but with all other parties, so Marrast suffered 
proportionally in repute, for he was beheved to be the virtual 
adviser of the different moderate administrations that succeeded 
each other from June to December. In order to complete our 
picture, we must anticipate a little the order of time. M. Mar- 
rast was elected President of the Assembly, and immediately 
installed in the princely residence, allotted under the Monarchy, 
to the President of the Chamber of Deputies. He at once fixed 
his weekly reception night, on which his salons were thrown 
open for company, amid a blaze of light and luxury, such as 
would not probably be witnessed at Washington in the ofiicial 
residence of a Polk, or a Taylor. The palaces of the ex-royal 
family were obliged to pay tribute to the Presidency, and sconces, 
vases, and bronzes spoke eloquently to the taste and love of 
luxury of the ex-editor of the National. It was said that it 
was not only in the salons destined to the reception of the public, 
that were found these regal spoils. This might be scandal. Tho 
silver cradle of an heir to the CroAMi, rocked to Pv-epublican dreams, 
it was said, the oflspring of the monthly President of the Assem- 
bly. The brevity of the official tenure of office, added to the 
ridicule. It was so like making the most of an unaccustomed 
feast. It was the amusing dream of the cobbler's wife in the 
play and pantomime, who, in her brief assumption of the fine 
lady, does make the most of her opportunity. Ridicule is killing- 
in France — our Voltaire the second handled the weapon with 
too much effect, to need being told that ; and yet blinded by his 
own evil star, he was weak enouofh to give his enemies a ludi- 

H 



170 MARRAST. 



crous handle. Envy liad much to do with all this, for the friends 
of Marrast urged with truth, that at a moment, when there was 
a suspension of soi7-ees, to the ruin of the petit commerce, the 
man who set the marchands selling gloves, and shoes, and dresses, 
and revived the motion of hackney-coaches, was doing the State 
some service. 

To add to the confusion of Marrast, he asked for an increase 
orf pay, that he might spend more for the pleasure of honorable 
members, and for the benefit of the good citizens of Paris, and 
was refused. His good intentions were not even acknowledged. 
Although M. Marrast was a Republican, and had suffered im- 
prisonment and exile for his opinions, and although not a whisper 
had ever been breathed against his probity, yet he had a merid- 
ional love of music, fine arts, and luxury, and was consequently 
a poor man. There is something of theatrical pomp in his air 
and manner. His entry into the National Assembly, so slow 
and measured, while he rolled his remarkably fine black eyes 
about, reminded the English spectator of Kean the lesser : his 
manner of taking the chair in the Assembly was so awfully dig- 
nified, as to make one smile. Yet his mode of conducting busi- 
ness was a great improvement on that of his predecessors. He 
abandoned the odious hand-bell, which, whether in the old 
Chamber, or in the new Assembly, used to be the sole noisy, 
stupid resource of parliamentary chairmen. It was about as 
happy an expedient, as if a big dog was set to bark to silence a 
pack in chorus. Marrast ruled the house by his eye, which he 
directed toward the most noisy ; and by nominative appeals, 
accompanied by some slyly satirical allusion, but by no means 
offensive, generally succeeded in a task, under which a stronger 
man of less tact and art, would have succumbed. Marrast 
would have probably been more happy in this sort of by-play, 
had he been encouraged ; but urbanity formed no characteristic 
of the Assembly. The rising play of his features was but too 
often checked by some individual burst of savage rudeness, which 
he could bear well, or spiritedly repel, if necessary. The repeat- 
ed re-elections of this gentleman to the Presidential chair, showed 
how much the Assembly valued his real merits. The greatest 



MARRAST. 171 



compliment of all, was afforded by the Committee of the Consti- 
tution, which confided to his practiced pen, the preparation of so 
important a document. When he appeared in the tribune, our 
readers must now be aware — the Assembly had not to encounter 
the awful brow of a Solon or Lycurgus. The French had, with 
characteristic appreciation of the fitness of things, chosen an 
homme cVesprit, to lay the foundation deep in time of their 
Republican Constitution. 

The author did his work neatly, as might have been expected, 
and gave out all the articles in a delicate, flute-like voice, that, 
had the subject been a chapter of Racine, would without doubt 
have been effective. This Constitution, be it remarked, was pro- 
duced on the first day of a week, which was to be marked by one 
of the most fearful insurrections of which history makes mention. 
It would not be easy to determine how far this project of a Con- 
stitution might have been an element in the causes that led to 
this insurrection. Perhaps it was regarded with profound indif- 
ference ; perhaps no greater weight was attached to it than that 
of being the enunciated proof of what the workmen had already 
long known, that the droit au travail, which alone gave the 
Republic or the Constitution any value in their eyes, formed no 
part of the design of the Committee, over which the ex-editor of 
the National presided. Had the bon?iet-rouge triumphed, the 
first victim of Socialist rage and disappointment would, in all 
probability, have been this man, whose whole life had been de- 
voted to the cause of Republicanism. 

More practical and positive motives than appear in a mere 
string of maxims, artistically attached into a code of political 
duties, are now gathering upon us, and give to our notes of the 
next few days a considerable degree of interest. 



CHAPTER XXI. ^ 

VICTOR. HUGO— LEON FAUCHER DEBATE ON THE NATIONAL ATE- 
LIERS ^AGITATION WITHOUT >MANCEUVRES OF THE CLUBS TO 

PRECIPITATE THE INSURRECTION — -APATHY OF THE MIDDLE 

CLASSES, AND ITS CAUSES. 

The state of the national ateliers, which had been frequently 
referred to of late, in discussions arising incidentally, and gener- 
ally expressive of dissatisfaction, was formally brought before the 
Assembly on Tuesday, the 20th of June, upon a demand for a 
grant of three millions of francs. It was Victor Hugo who 
opened the debate. This celebrated writer was returned for 
Paris only a little while before, among that strangely contrasted 
batch of members to which we have had occasion to point at- 
tention. 

Victor Hugo had been created a Peer of France by Louis- 
Philippe, a short time only before the fall of the Monarch, and 
it was fondly hoped by his admirers, that the Upper House had 
been gifted with a Lamartine ; which would have been a right 
royal gift. Victor Hugo was to have been a Lamartine only in 
the sense of an oratorical and literary rival. As a politician, his 
presence was to have made, what Hugo rejoices in so much, an 
antithesis. His steady Monarchical brilliancies were to have 
outshone the eccentric Semi-Socialist flashes of the wandering 
star, that, having visited all systems, and dallied a while within 
the sphere of their influence, resumed its lonely way through 
sublime solitudes, until it found a more powerful attraction in 
Robespierrian Republicanism — Robespierre with the idea hien 
entendu, and without the guillotine. Victor Hugo, it must be 
said in plain terms, failed in the Chamber of Peers. His eccen- 
tric bearing was not suited to an Assembly, where convenance 
presided with extreme rigor. Elderly gentlemen, who had passed 
into the Chamber through the magistracy, or the ministry, or the 



VICTOR HUGO. 173 



stern discipline of the camp, did not view with much favor the 
entry of a writer, whose freedom with history and, what is more 
sacred still in the eyes of even French courtiers, with language 
even, was not atoned for by his genius. That dangerous shaft, 
a mot, was shot over the head of the poet, more spirituel than 
any thing he had ever himself said ; for Victor Hugo, with all 
his acknowledged power, is not spirituel. By an allusion to the 
name of a tragedy which is one of the most absurd and grotesque 
perversions of history on record, and in reply to the question, 
Why did the King make Victor Hugo a Peer ? it was said, Le 
Roi s' amuse. The qualities which had unfitted the chief of the 
romantic school of literature for the exclusive hoii ton of the 
tribune of the Peers, might perhaps have served him with the 
National Assembly, only that he had been a Peer, and one so 
fresh from the hands of Louis-Philippe. 

An ode on the birth-day of the Due de Bordeaux stood regis- 
tered likewise against him ; for it is one of the responsibilities, as 
it is one of the penalties of genius, that no act it ever does can 
ever be covered with oblivion for sake of personal convenience. 
Genius is doomed, by the rigorous fame awarded by the vox 
populi, to a glorious consistency of conduct. The great man 
can not be exhibited in fragments — he must be seen all of a 
piece. The brighter the light, the darker the spot, and the more 
fascinating to the eye. The poet laureate of the legitimate Heir 
to the Crown might, after a certain lapse of time, pay court to 
the Monarch of July ; but it would be a temptation to public 
faith, to proclaim too abruptly his new-born Republicanism ; a 
greater still to see him turn, with the levity of disappointed self- 
love, to a rising Imperialism. There can be no harmony in such 
a life, although it should be passed in the melody of the sweetest 
versification ; nor could the richest painting of the imagination 
give tone to such patchwork. 

M. Victor Hugo is a born actor. His writings have the 
florid varnish of an acted style. The high gifts with which he 
has been endowed by Providence, have been perverted into a 
sleight of hand dealing with language. Where he might have 
soared, he has stooped to pick up odd discoveries, and make the 



174 VICTOR HUGO. 



queerest contrasts. His mind has become a kaleidoscope, and his 
tongue can only utter puerile conceits. He believes that he has 
discovered the antithesis, or that at least he has revealed its pow- 
er, and he thinks, speaks, and acts, by a sort of double key — a 
new-found harmony created from a forced consonance of things, 
the highest with things the most mean. He swoops from an 
Alpine altitude, to pick up a bauble ; and although he may dis- 
play agility, he is no longer the eagle looking unbienchingly at 
the sun. In the Chamber of Peers, the Vicomte Victor Hugo 
acted with an overstrained, deferential courtesy. In the Assem- 
bly he tried to put on the air of a great champion, at one mo- 
ment of the Republic, at another of endangered society. His 
large, prominent, fair, and remarkable brow, would seem charged 
with frowns ; his voice would issue like avenging thunder, and 
his gestures perform their fitting accompaniments of extrava- 
gance. Yet he failed. With a good appearance, good voice, 
commanding action, and high fame, Victor Hugo utterly failed. 
More than once has he been driven from the tribune by clamor- 
ous impatience. Why ? Because he is an actor ; because he is 
artificial, vain, and inconstant ; because he thinks more of him- 
self than of his cause ; because he is not animated by a lofty, 
self-sacrificing sincerity. 

It is remarkable how few of the popular novel writers of 
France found their way into the National Assembly. Alexandre 
Dumas tried constituency after constituency, and failed. Eugene 
Sue, whose romances were written with a view of advancing 
Socialist doctrines, and which were imprudently admitted into such 
journals as the Debats, Presse, and Cmistitutio7inel, was men- 
tioned on some lists, but hardly attracted attention. Victor Hugo, 
who did find his way into the Assembly, received little respect. 
Dumas and Sue certainly did much to corrupt, the one the mor- 
als, the other to pervert the ideas of the reading and play-going 
public — and what part of the Parisian public is woi feuilleton- 
reading and play-going ? — and by this double corruption to pre- 
pare the Revolution Democratiqice et Sociale ; and yet these 
precursors of ruin were thrown aside into obscurity and neglect 
the moment that their disciples began to put their doctrines into 



VICTOR HUGO'S SPEECH. 175 

practice. Their own tales present no moral so good. The fanatic 
may find favor, but never the mere corrupter. With this intro- 
duction of Victor Hugo, we come to his speech regarding the na- 
tional ateliers. 

He acknowledged that those ateliers were the result of a neces- 
sity. Nevertheless, he could not conceal from himself that the 
money expended on them was so much lost. The result of four 
months had been nothing, or rather worse. The Monarchy had 
made oisifs — the Republic, /aiweai>z^s. Such faineantisme was 
fatal to civilization in Constantinople or Naples, but never would 
the reading and thinking workmen of Paris act like Lazaroni in 
time of peace, to become Janissaries for a day of combat. Hav- 
ing paid many handsome compliments to the Parisian workmen, 
he proceeded to show that the cixdlization of Europe would be 
affected by the deterioration of the character of the Parisian pop- 
ulace. What Rome was formerly, he considered Paris to be now. 
What the thinkers of Paris prepared, the workmen of Paris exe- 
cuted. The workman was the soldier of the idea, and not of the 
enieute. It became, therefore, necessary that the national ate- 
liers should be transformed promptly from a hurtful into a useful 
institution. 

While the orator was thus indulging in general reflections, he 
was interrupted by voices reminding him that they were all 
agreed as to what he was saying, but wanted a practical plan for 
accomplishing what all equally wished ; but the orator could 
only throw out those general recommendations which were on 
every tongue, although by few expressed so eloquently. What 
added, he continued, to his inexpressible grief was, that while 
Paris was struggling in her paroxysm, London was rejoicing — 
her commerce had trebled ; luxury, industry, and wealth had 
there found refuge. Yes, England was seated laughing at the 
edge of the abyss into which France had fallen. 

This speech resumed with completeness the vain prejudices of 
the cafe. Paris, the modern Rome — although Rome w^as the 
powerful organizer of ancient times — although Rome gave munic- 
ipal government, and multiplied life throughout her members, 
while Paris can not colonize abroad, and the French have yet to 



176 FAUCHER'S SPEECH. 

learn how to manage their local affairs without a full reliance on 
the capital I Paris, the great initiator in literature and philos- 
ophy ! — although she has borrowed not only from the classics, but 
from England, from Spain, from Germany — and notwithstanding 
the attempt to revive the diatribes of the cafe against England, 
and re-excite popular hatred, which had subsided in presence of 
the calm impartiality and perfect good faith of England, while 
France was in the throes of her revolution I It is enough to say 
that the character of the statesman was in this speech. 

One of the most prosaic and practical of men, M. Leon Faucher, 
rose after Victor Hugo. This gentleman had long been distin- 
guished for the unwearied industry with which he applied himself 
to those economical questions, to the perfect understanding of 
which he attributes the commercial prosperity of England. He 
had visited the seats of our manufacturing industry. He had 
plunged boldly into our blue-books, through whose voluminous 
details he threaded his way sagaciously. He attended public 
meetings, conversed with public men, and gave to France the 
result of his labors in a couple of sound, well-written volumes, 
which have raised and established his fame. From England, 
M. Faucher returned a free-trader, and with his usual energy and 
strength of conviction labored to break down the narrow and ex- 
clusive, the miserably exclusive spirit, in which French commer- 
cial laws are conceived. With the wise little Due d'Harcourt, 
he founded a society, which was the first effort made in France 
at getting up a regular series of public meetings for the discus- 
sion of political questions. 

M. Faucher is a man of healthy mind, and high courage — of 
which his appearance at this moment on the unpopular side of a 
most dangerously exciting question, might in itself be taken as 
proof He entered at once upon the details of the question. 
They knew, he said, how from 13,000 men, who at first had 
been received in the national ateliers, the number had swelled to 
120,000, which had been reduced to 105,000 or 107,000 by 
the late recenseme7it : but what they did not know was, that 
there were from 50,000 to 60,000 persons at that moment de- 
manding admission. Misery had in fact, invaded all classes, and 



FAUCHER'S SrEECH. 177 



if they did not take care, all Paris would be sunk in it, and the 
provinces would soon follow. The case at that moment was, 
that one half of society was living on the other. He had made 
inquiries, and found that the national ateliers could not provide 
work for more than 10,000 persons. It was therefore an illusion 
to talk of assistance given in the shape of labor ; it was charity 
under another name. He would prefer, therefore, while they 
were waiting more radical remedies, that they should give what 
they did give as charity, instead of under the form of pretended 
labor. 

Having adverted to certain measures contemplated by Gov- 
ernment, such as the resumption of railways by the State (we 
shall make separate reference to his treating of that subject), 
M. Faucher proceeded to say, that upon taking a census of the 
national ateliers, he found that there were in them from 40,000 
to 50,000 persons connected with the different branches of build- 
ing, and he argued, that the only way to give these men adequate 
employment would be to revive the business of building, which 
was then dead. The question, then, resolved itself into a revival 
of credit and confidence, and in order to do that, they should 
begin by erasing from their laws and decrees, all the bad princi- 
ples that had been introduced into them — those attacks on prop- 
erty which had thrown the country into trouble and affright. So 
long as the State would not pay its debts and establish its own 
credit, so long would private credit be rendered impossible, and 
without credit there could be no work. 

The state of the ateliers nationaux, the state of trade and 
commerce, and indeed the whole state of society were so succinctly 
put forward in this speech of M. Faucher, that it is unnecessary 
to pursue the subject further. What is most important for our 
present purpose to observe is, that it became evident to the work- 
men in the ateliers themselves, and to the Government, that the 
system would no longer be tolerated. The Assembly granted the 
demand, but added an article to the bill, that for the future no 
larger sum than one million of francs could be asked for at one 
and the same time. It became then incumbent on the Minister 
of Public Works to find some means of thinning those establish- 



178 AGITATION OF THE OUVRIERS. 

ments ; nor was he taken unawares, for he had already made 
arrangements for sending several bodies of men to the provinces; 
to w^ork at the canalisation of the Marne, and the Upper Seine, 
as well as on roads and buildings. 

As the sitting of Wednesday, the 21st of June, was devoted to 
miscellaneous subjects, we may pause here for the purpose of fol- 
lowing out the consequences of this discussion and vote affecting 
the national ateliers and the Clubs. 

It was not within-doors to-day, but without, that the interest 
really lay. Great agitation was remarked in the Faubourgs, as 
well as in the national ateliers. An immense mob collected 
before the H6tel-de-Ville, and the police were beaten and ill used. 
Active agents from the Club of the Droits de V Homme, the 
organizers of the coming struggle for the Republique Democra- 
tique et Sociale, and some of the recognized chiefs of the move- 
ment passed the day in negotiation back and forward between 
the national atelieis and the Faubourgs. All means were put in 
force to stop the departure of the brigades or companies of men 
destined for the works of the Marne, the Upper Seine, and other 
places. They were told that the country people were ill using 
those who had already departed. 

A company of these men who had gone as far as Fontainebleau, 
where they were to have been met by agents from the Govern- 
ment, with the necessary instructions and advances of money, 
either from having been made to wait too long, or acting on pre- 
vious instructions, grew, or pretended to grow indignant, returned 
to Paris, and helped to swell the excitement and agitation. A 
meeting had been fixed for the following evening at the Place du 
Pantheon, for the actual purpose of settling the question of insur- 
rection, which, indeed, under any circumstances, v/as only one of 
time. By an artful move, to take place previously, it was so 
combined that the resolution to appeal to the god of the barri- 
cades should be made to seem to depend on acts of the Govern- 
ment — for the worst party pays unconscious homage to the spirit 
of peace and humanity by desiring to appear to be provoked. 
The combatant ever seeks to have the sun at his back I 

A large body of workmen went to the Luxembourg, the seat 



THE liMPENDING STRUGGLE. 179 

of the Executive Commission of Government, and close, as our 
readers know, to the Place du Pantheon, and demanded an inter- 
view with M. Marie, who, as Minister of Public Works in the 
Provisional Government, had organized the national ateliers. M. 
Marie, as was probably foreseen, refused to receive such a host, 
but allowed a deputation to be admitted. A few forming the 
deputation had an interview with this member of the Executive 
Commission, in which they conducted themselves with premedi- 
tated insolence. One member of the deputation interfered so 
gi'ossly while M. Marie was remonstrating, that the latter ex- 
claimed : '• Surely you do not allow yourselves to be the slaves 
of this man?" The compromising expression that was wanted, 
was now found ; the deputation returned, and falsely proclaimed 
among their companions, that the Minister had called them a 
set of slaves. Orders were immediately issued to have about 
sixty persons arrested, which orders were not executed, for in 
point of fact, the police agents were generally disaffected. The 
mob outside continuing to menace under the very nose of the 
Government, was dispersed by the military, only to scatter over the 
Faubourgs, and through the national ateliers, the perverted word 
of M. Marie, "slaves," which was to serve as the tocsin of insur- 
rection, and the insurrection was resolved upon. 

This, then, was the situation of things. The Revolution of 
February, effected by surprise, had to be bolstered up by a series 
of expedients and delusions, which led, as a matter of necessity, 
to a struggle, either that society might be replaced on its old 
footing, or carried further into fresh adventures. This supposes 
that there were two parties, neither of whom viewed with favor 
what had been established : the one wishing a return to, if not 
to a past order of things, at least to a past order of ideas ; the 
other desiring to launch into the unknown. If the latter party 
did not exist, the Pvepublic would probably have fallen before 
the regularly organized determination of the former. The fear 
of losing all Government, and of seeing society thrown into a 
state of chaos, kept the friends of order to the side of the Repub- 
lic, but with a dearth of zeal, which gave great advantage to 
the insurrection. 



180 FRENCH CENTRALIZATION. 

It was only when it was seen that society was menaced 
with barbarism- — that the two hours' pillage threatened in the 
Assembly, on the day of the invasion of the 15th of May, was 
literally to be accomplished — that the rich quarters of Paris, 
comprising the 1st and 2d arrondissements, at one side of the 
water, and the 10th, or aristocratic Faubourg St. Germain at 
the other, were doomed to fire, blood, and rapine — that the Na- 
tional Guards rose against the barricades, which their apathy 
allowed to be erected. 

The National Guards cared little for the Government, but 
they did care for society. We are now to seek the causes of this 
apathy of the middle classes, in the very debate, that by a singu- 
lar coincidence, opened on the evening of Thursday, the evening 
preceding the insurrection, although the subject, in its simple 
prosaic designation, will hardly strike the reader as having the 
magnitude that really did belong to it : the debate was on a 
project of law, introduced by the Government for the resumption 
of railways by the State. 

The principle of forming companies for the carrying on of 
public works, was but little understood in France only a few 
years ago. So little, indeed, had the French advanced in com- 
m.ercial enterprise, that England, Germany, and even Belgium, 
hardly divided by a perceptible boundary from France, were 
covered with railways, before this great country, pretending to 
take the lead in civilization, could exhibit more than a few 
leagues of rail connecting Versailles and St. Germain, with the 
capital. The cause lay chiefly in the habits, that the system 
of centralization had rooted in the people, of an entire dependence 
on the Government for the execution of public works. The 
Government of which Marshal Soult was the head, and Messrs. 
Guizot and Duchatel the animating and virtual chiefs, determined 
to introduce the English principle of association, as it is now 
called, for the carrying on of great enterprises, and to begin their 
experiments with railways. The principle had, like most new 
principles, to be connected with the old. The Government 
struck out the whole scheme of railways, executed, through the 
instrumentality of its own admirably organized corps of engineers 



ENGLISH ASSOCIATION— RAILWAY MANIA. 181 

of the ponts et chaussees, the preliminary surveying ; undertook 
to execute all scientific works, such as tunneling and earth-works, 
and masonry ; and then invited the formation of public companies, 
for taking by public biddings, the several lines, on condition of 
laying down rails, building carriages, and station houses, and 
working the traffic for a given series of years. 

The idea was good ; for if the principle once took, there could 
be no doubt of its extension to other undertakings, and France 
would find herself eventually launched into those grand commer- 
cial enterprises, which employ the activity that used to be wasted 
in military contests. The French, owing to the great subdivision 
of property, and their Httle acquaintance with the new principle, 
were rather indifferent at first, and it so happened, that their 
more enterprising and richer, and in this respect, at all events, 
better informed neighbors, the English, became the shareholders 
and proprietors of some of the first lines that were made. The 
advantages became so apparent, that the apathy manifested at 
first, turned into a fury of speculation. The Bourse became so 
crowded that an early attendance was requisite for those who 
wished to secure a corner in this handsome temple of Mammon. 
The days of Law and- of Mississippi fury were revived, and the 
summer of 1846, when England was bitten with the railway 
mania, saw France running wild in the same career of grasping 
delusion. 

It must be confessed, that in the vast market of railway share 
buying and selling, the greater number were actuated by a mere 
love of gambling, and the corruption of Avhich the public press 
was so vehemently complaining, received so great a stimulus from 
this new method of gratification, that it served to excite a preju- 
dice against the system, and to attach a large party the more 
strongly to the old plan of centralization. The readiness of the 
French to take to gambling was not evidenced by the sole his- 
torical example of what took place under the Regency of the 
Due d' Orleans ; a similar fury prevailed at the time of the great 
Revolution, and was exercised even under the Terror, with 
desperate effrontery in the matter of flour and bread, the exces- 
sive scarcity of which, made them regarded as most precious in the 



182 HOSTILE PRINCIPLES. 

sense of gambling materials. It is probably in consequence of 
the manifestation of this disposition, that the Puritans of the 
Republican party have ever discouraged the introduction of 
speculation, which they think diverts the people from the exer- 
cise of their warlike instincts, on which they fancy that the 
influence of France and her greatness depends. 

The duel between Girardin and Carrel, had its rise in the 
severity with which the latter dealt with the former, because he 
treated newspapers on commercial principles, to the degradation 
of the press. The successors of Carrel in the National, proved 
determined enemies to the introduction of the principle of asso- 
ciation, and contended that the State ought to make the railways, 
and apply the profits to the benefit of the State. Such doctrine 
was but little attended to. The principle of association prevail- 
ed, and when the Revolution of February broke out, the savings 
of the trading classes were found to be extensively invested in 
railway undertakings. When the Republicans in power man- 
ifested a disposition to take the railways into their hands, it may 
be said that they were acting consistently on their own doctrines ; 
but it may be with force advanced, on the other hand, that there 
is a wide difTerence in the situation which presents itself before 
and after the fait accompli. Property had run into that channel, 
and had settled in it, and could not be diverted without incon- 
venience and loss„ A great portion of the property belonged to 
Englishmen, and was secured by public faith, and there had 
grown up ties between the English and French commercial class- 
es of so beneficial a character, that it would be unwise to tear 
them, asunder. Such a disturbance of affairs could not take place 
without causing deep dissatisfaction to all whose interests were 
either mediately or immediately involved. But it so happened 
that the previous financial acts of the Republican Government 
were such as took out of view and destroyed the benefit of prin- 
ciple, on which they might otherwise have claimed to have acted, 
and placed this measure in the light of one more desperate expe- 
dient, added to the long series of make-shifts by which they were 
trying to keep society from falling asunder ; a remedy, in fact, of 
that sort which only becomes another form of disease. 



INSURANCE COMPANIES— STATE COMMUNISM. 183 

It "Was not the railway question alone that was before the 
public. A few days previously the Finance Minister gave notice 
of an intention on the part of the Government, to take up Insur- 
ance Companies, and become themselves the life-insurers, and in- 
surers against accidents by fire, for all France. This measure 
was more startling than even that connected with railways. 
Taken by itself, the railway resumption plan might have been 
defended on special grounds, but this measure affecting Insurance 
Companies, carried with it a principle which would have justi- 
fied the State in abolishing all public companies of every nature 
and kind, or rather of seizing upon and appropriating their care- 
fully elaborated machinery, for the sake of turning private prof- 
its into State revenue, with an augmentation beyond all bounds 
of State patronage. The question how far corruption, keeping 
pace with augmented means of patronage, would not be v/orse 
than any prejudice derivable from private speculation, may be left 
out of view, for sake of the alarming Communist principle involved 
in such schemes. 

The main doctrine of the Communists and Socialists, it needs 
to be borne in mind, for carrying out their principles, consists in 
throwing the whole direction of the community upon the Govern- 
ment. There is this much simplicity in Communism, that it 
accepts fully and without reserve or qualification all the conse- 
quences of its principles. Society had never to deal with a foe 
of more straightforward audacity. If all men are to have an 
equal share of all property, there must exist somewhere a super- 
intending power, charged with the surveillance of this distribu- 
tion. It is from this power, be it called State or Government, 
that property must be derived, and in whose hands property must 
settle. 

In a Communist State, which is democracy carried to its ex- 
treme consequences, the Government would be the managers of 
the firm, a chosen Committee or Board of Directors, and as such 
should be the chiefs of all enterprises, the receivers of all profits, 
and the declarers of the shares to each and all alike. There is 
this advantage in dealino- with Communism, that no time need be 
frittered away in preliminary explanations. We know what we 



184 STATE COMMUNISM. 

have to deal with. The arguments turn upon consequences and 
results, for there is no difficulty in the statement of premises. 
Now as this Communism hovered over the Republic — ^as it was 
its danger, as well as the danger of Society — any step made in 
advance toward it by the Republican Government, gave evidence 
of fear, or compromise, or treacherous intent, and jfilled society with 
trebly increased alarm. 

The railway resumption-plan, taken in connection with the In- 
surance Company seizure-plan, and read by the light which the 
latter threw upon it, took a moral magnitude of the most fearful 
proportions. These two measures were the application, so far as 
they went, of the means indicated by the Communists, for the 
political carrying out of their plans with regard to society. The 
Government would have shrunk, perhaps, from the admission that 
any such principle had entered its head. But it is no comfort to 
society to be told that Government is blind to the extent to which 
a false principle, no matter how unconsciously adopted, may lead 
it. No one would have believed that, having seized upon one 
public company for sake of its profits, it would not seize upon 
another and another ; and this effect would at least have fol- 
lowed, that having, by the resumption of railways, destroyed the 
spirit of association, as borrowed from England and applied by 
the Monarchy, and having banished foreign capital, the Govern- 
ment would also have destroyed private companies or firms for 
commercial purposes, and reduced commerce to mere huxtering. 
The Government had, on sundry occasions, marked its hostility to 
what it was pleased to denominate the aristocracy of finance. It 
had declared, that it had no bowels of compassion for capitalists. 
The Finance Minister drew a line of distinction between the 
claims of the depositors of money in Savings' Banks, and those 
who had discounted the Treasury bills. 

The former were treated with more consideration than the lat- 
ter, because it was presumed that the holders of Treasury bills 
could not be poor. Be the fact true or false, it mattered not ; a 
principle was let loose, and in language and tone, that showed 
hostility to capitaUsts. And whatever feeUng of justice or human- 
ity might have lain in the distinction between the two classes of 



TARTS BEFORE THE INSURRECTION. 185 

plundered Savings' Bank depositors, and plundered and withal 
insulted Treasury bond-holders, this feeling was neutralized by the 
concession that it implied to Communists, Socialists, and Red 
Republicans, all of whom, however differing on other points, were 
agreed in their war against capital. 

The discouragement under which the middle classes were 
laboring, at the moment when the insurrection broke out, may 
account for the apathy manifested by the National Guards in 
the first instance, and for the ease with Avhich the insurgents 
were allowed to make barricades. The question was, as we have 
before indicated, introduced on Thursday, the 2 2d of June, and 
after an elaborate debate, adjourned to the following day. Thus, 
while the insurgents were preparing for their battle, the state of 
parties in Paris was such as to authorize their encouraging the 
wildest hopes. All who could leave Paris had gone. All 
wealthy strangers had quitted in fear and disgust. All wealthy 
natives had, Avith few exceptions, retired to their chateaux. Com- 
merce was dead ; the middle classes profoundly discouraged, and 
estranged from the Government ; the police filled with the disaf- 
fected myrmidons of Caussidiere ; the feelings of the National 
Garde Mobile, formed of the enfanU de Paris, and turned into 
a civic form to take them out of harm's way, suspected. The 
Government itself, without moral force, tampering with the ene- 
mies of society on the one hand, and showing hostility to the 
bourgeoisie on the other ; the workmen without employ ; the 
idle, the disaffected, the licentious, the hardened convict, all swept 
and gathered into licensed gangs, armed and practiced in the use 
of arms ; moved by the mysterious orders of Clubs, with the tra- 
ditional revolutionary prestige that hung over the names of Jac- 
obins, and Rights of Man ; ofiicered by the officers of the nation- 
al ateliers, whom they were accustomed to obey, and commanded 
by well-skilled leaders. For the fanatical, there was the kin- 
dling abstraction of Communism ; for the licentious, the wealthy 
or reputed wealthy quarters of the city for plunder, and the freest 
reading of the rights of the assailants of a sacked city. 

"The greatest crisis in the history of modern civilization had 
com.c ; and if we might be allowed to put into abstract forms, 



186 THE APPROACHING CRISIS. 

and, as it were, spiritual incarnation, those great communities 
whose interests were involved in the battle of June, we might 
imagine the Genius of Berlin, and of Frankfort, and of Vienna, 
and of all those historical cities of Italy, so full of accumulated 
treasures, the bequests of ages, watching and waiting the result 
of a struggle on which depended the widest spread desolation and 
mourning, and whose sole chance of cure would rest in another 
irruption of northern barbarism — the spear of the Cossack, to cut 
the proud flesh of degraded minds and morals. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

INSURRECTION OF JUNE FIRST DAY, THE 23d THE ASSEMBLY. 

When the Assembly met on Friday, the 23d of June, at one 
o'clock, the barricades had already been raised, and blood had 
flowed. The insurrection had begun. Its extent was not, how- 
ever known, and its real nature but imperfectly understood. 
Business was proceeded with as if nothing was occurring out of 
doors of more importance than a vain disturbance, which would 
be easily suppressed. It was not until General Lebreton, who, 
having disposed of a question relating to pensions, made a propo- 
sition that a deputation should go among the troops, that a hint 
of the real state of things was dropped. The proposition was 
received with marks of impatience, especially from the ultra- 
democratic benches, and a series of notices of laws, and drafts 
of decrees, were read, of the coldest and most unexciting descrip- 
tion. In the midst of an uninteresting conversation, the Presi- 
dent begged to interrupt proceedings to make a communication, 
which was, that news of a most satisfactory kind had reached 
him from all parts of Paris. Two barricades, that had been 
raised in the Rue Planche-Mibray, a street near the H6tel-de- 
Ville, had been taken by the Republican and National Guards, 
marching together, and the barricades raised on the boulevards 
and quays had been demolished without much trouble. There 
had been some firing at the Porte St. Denis. The Garde Mobile 
at the post Bonne Nouvelle had spontaneously fired on the in- 
surgents. It was said that some shots had been fired from win- 
dows in the Rue de la Hachette. The H6tel-de-Ville was 
surrounded by an imposing force, and, in general, the emeute 
had met but little sympathy from the population. 

Having made this satisfactory communication, the President 
of the Assembly withdrew, in order to return, as he said, to his 
post ; and the Assembly, with well-assumed sang froid, resumed 



188 THE INSURRECTION—THE ASSEMBLY. 

the debate on the Railway Hesumption, which the bourgeoisie 
called, in their hearts, the Railway Robbery Bill. The discus- 
sion had made some progress, when it was interrupted by the 
appearance of M. Flocon, Minister of Commerce, who wished to 
inform the Assembly, in order to satisfy some questions he had 
heard raised, that the members of the Executive Commission 
were at that moment seated in council within the precincts of 
the Assembly, naturally become the center of action, in order to 
watch the course of events outside. The Minister proceeded to 
say, that the insurgents were composed of all the enemies of the 
RepubHc, pushed on by the hands of the foreigner, and sustained 
by foreign gold. For this audacious assertion, by the way, the 
British embassador demanded and obtained an apologetic explan- 
ation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who, in a letter, 
handsomely acknowledging the good faith of the English in all 
late occurrences, threw his colleague unceremoniously overboard. 
M. de Falloux next rose to present a decree for the dissolution 
of the national ateliers. It is a curious coincidence, that the 
Assembly should be engaged in two measures, the one so hateful 
to the boiirgeoise, the other giving the last blow to the illusions 
of the working people, on the very day that both classes were in 
arms against each other. M. Corbon presented a decree that 
he deemed calculated to take the sting out of that proposed by 
M. de Falloux, and which went to authorize associations by 
workmen, for the sake of carrying on enterprises on their own 
account — the State making advances of money in the first in- 
stance, in order to encourage such attempts. This led to a con- 
fused and angry discussion, showing how little the proposition 
was generally relished, and it ended in an understanding that a 
day would be fixed for debating the matter. This incident 
being over, the President announced that he had received several 
letters from the Prefect of Pohce. They were to the same effect 
as that which had been made previously, and pointed to a 
prompt suppression of the emeute. M. Creton then presented 
himself with a project of law, the object of which was to call on 
the Ex-Provisional Government for an account of expenses — a 
sore and irritating point — which threw the friends of Ledru- 



THE INSURRECTION— THE ASSEMBLY. 189 

Rolliii into a passion. This matter was disposed of by reference 
to the Financial Committee, and the debate on the Railway- 
Resumption Bill was regularly resumed. Three long speeches, 
stuffed Avith figures and calculations, had actually been made in 
the coolest possible fashion. A worthy citizen representative was 
at length interrupted by the entry of the Executive Commission 
of Government, with General Cavaignac. It might then have 
been about four o'clock ; and, as if to inspire the Assembly with 
feelings of seriousness about interests more valuable than even 
railway property, a tremendous thunder-storm began. At first 
the thunder-claps Avere taken for a moment for discharges of 
artillery, and a panic seized all hearts. General Cavaignac 
asked leave to speak, and the tribune was vacated by the rail- 
way orator, not to be resumed again. The General, in a low, 
mild voice, which is now remembered as remarkable by those 
who were present, mentioned that the insurrection had begun in 
the Faubourgs St. Denis and St. Martin ; that troops had been 
sent there sufficient to maintain order ; and that there was 
nothing of any consequence to be apprehended for the moment in 
that quarter. There was still insurrection and strife in the Rue 
St. Antoine, and part of the Rue St. Jacques ; but measures 
had been taken to conquer resistance, and he hoped soon to have 
satisfactory news to communicate. The disposition manifested 
by the troops. National Guards, and Garde Mobile, was excel- 
lent. As soon as this tranquilizing communication had been 
made. Gamier Pages ascended the tribune. At this moment 
the rain fell in torrents, and beating on the slight roof of the 
temporary wooden building, in which the Assembly was seated, 
rendered it necessary for this gentleman, to pitch his weak, shrill 
voice to its utmost stretch. His manner betrayed that there 
was something more serious and dangerous at work than had 
been indicated by the gentle demeanor of the man of war. He 
said the time was come for acting, not speaking ; that they 
should act with force and energy. Vigorous measures had been 
taken, and measures more vigorous still were in contemplation. 

It was generally expected that a speech so vehemently deliv- 
ered, and so charged with promises of vigor, and menaces of 



190 THE ASSEMBLY— PLANS OF THE INSURGENTS. 

punisliment, would have terminated by the announcement that 
Paris was declared in a state of siege. But, no ! — there were 
words, and nothing but words ; gesticulation, and nothing but 
gesticulation. Action ! — -the action of mountebankism ; and the 
Government sank in estimation. 

M. de Lamartine made a short speech, which sounded like a call 
for confidence in the Government. The President of the Assem- 
bly proposed that they should sit en perniane7ice ; and as this 
was so far a practiced resolution, it tended to settle the wildness 
and uncertainty with which the Assembly was j&lling. M. Bon- 
jean urged that the representatives should go among the troops, 
and his persistence caused a tumult, which was put an end to 
by a suspension of the sitting till eight o'clock. 

In order to understand what had been passing, and that we 
may be able to pursue the proceedings of the Assembly, with 
which we have chiefly to do, we will proceed to take a view of 
the insurrection. 

Any one who has viewed Paris from an elevated point will 
recollect, that the banks of the Seine, on which the city is built, 
rise to a considerable height on each side of the river. The 
insurgents took up a position which extended from the Barrieres 
Rochechouart and Poissonniere, lying close to each other, on a 
very high point of the right bank, to the Pantheon, situated on 
the highest elevation of the left bank. The barrieres on the 
right bank, and the Pantheon on the left, formed the fortified 
wings of the insurgent army. The main body lay in the Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine, which was the citadel of the insurrection. 
The principal object of the insurgents was to gain the H6tel-de- 
Ville ; above which their main line, cutting the city in almost 
two equal parts, would have run. 

If we suppose the insurgents to descend the right bank, by 
the Rue Faubourg St. Martin and Rue St. Martin on the right, 
they would pass through the Rue Planche-Mibray a little in 
advance of the Hotel-de-Ville ; and if we suppose the insurgents 
to descend from the Pantheon by the Faubourg St. Jacques and 
the Rue de la Cite, and crossing the bridge, they would meet 
exactlv face to face, and give each other the hand. An insur- 



CAVAIGNAC'S PLAN. 191 



gent body, descending at the same time by the Rue St. Antoine, 
would take the H6tel-de-Ville in the rear ; and that building, 
regarded as the head-quarters of all revolutionary government, 
vv^ould be enveloped, and the victory won. 

General Cavaignac knew beforehand the nature of the battle 
he would have to fight. He was aware that the Club leaders 
openly boasted of having an army of 100,000 men, composed 
chiefly of the national ateliers, and that a struggle had been 
resolved upon. He had determined in his own mind not to 
pursue the errors that had been committed by the Generals of 
Charles X. and Louis-Philippe ; and he substituted a plan of 
concentration of troops for one of dissemination. This plan he 
submitted to his friends. General Bedeau and General de Lamo- 
riciere, and it received their approbation. Taking his measures 
accordingly, orders were issued to the troops stationed in the 
different barracks in the immediate neighborhood of the city, that 
they should, as soon as they received intimation respectively of 
the hneute having broken out, march directly to the positions 
specifically understood, and which were the H6tel-de-Ville and 
the National Assembly. These orders were obeyed with such 
precision, that the soldiers passed through the barricades which 
they found erected in their way, without stopping to throw them 
down ; so that at an early hour of the day the General had his 
troops under his hand, while orders were transmitting by the 
telegraph for reinforcements of soldiers and National Guards ; so 
that, should it have so happened that he could not hold the city, 
he would have retired outside, and awaited the arrival of those 
succors that he knew to be on their way. The soldiers were 
provided with provisions for some days, and the cavalry had 
ample provender for their horses. We saw the General at the 
Assembly at four o'clock, which he imimediately left to commence 
active operations, by marching at the head of seven battalions, 
taken from the forces concentrated at the National Assembly, to 
the relief of General de Lamoriciere, who was engaged in the 
Faubourg St. Martin. Why he took that direction is plain. 
The H6tel-de-Ville was protected, because it was one of the 
points of concentration ; there were considerable forces on the 



192 MILITARY OPERATIONS. 

left bank, because the Luxembourg, which was the seat of Gov- 
ernment, lay close to the Pantheon, and could not on any account 
be allowed to fall into the hands of the insurgents. His first 
concern would then be for General de Lamoriciere, who was 
engaged in the faubourgs of the right bank, into which he had 
marched in the morning, at the head of a small force of a couple 
of thousand men. His intention was to leave some of those ♦ 
troops with Lamoriciere, and then proceed to other points. He 
found, however, that while the latter was contending with the 
insurgents in the Faubourg St. Martin, the Faubourg du Temple 
had risen on his right, and it became necessary for General 
Cavaignac to cover that General's menaced flank. 

A canal runs across the Faubourg du Temple, over which 
there is a bridge for carriages ; and, raised to a considerable 
elevation, there is another bridge for pedestrians, in order that 
they should not have to wait while the lower bridge would be 
opened to allow boats to pass. At this place the houses form a 
semi-circle at each side, from, which streets radiate, and these 
streets were barricaded, and some of the houses held by the 
insurgents. General Cavaignac mounted this high bridge, and 
for several minutes was the mark for showers of bullets, while he 
coolly took observations. He descended unhurt. 

On ascending the Faubourg du Temple, you come to the Rue 
St. Maur, on the right ; and as the street runs directly into the 
Faubourg St. Antoine, the citadel of the insurrection, it becaraie 
of the utmost importance to the insurgents to bar the passage, 
and they did so with an almost impregnable barricade. It 
resisted a cannonade of several hours, during which nearly all 
the men at the guns were killed, as well as the horses. The 
first gun was for a moment abandoned, and then a second gun 
was brought up. So obstinate was the resistance, that General 
Cavaignac had to send for reinforcements to General Lamoriciere ; 
and it required a movement, by which the barricade was turned, 
before it fell into the hands of the troops. 

Not far from this street, General Foucher, attacking barri- 
cades near the Barriere de Belleville, was wounded, and General 
Francois received his death. A horse was shot under Pierre 



THE INSURRECTION— THE ASSEMBLY. 193 

Bonaparte. Four superior officers were wounded. At this time 
General Lamoriciere had conquered, apparently, the insurrection 
in the faubourgs. The first shot that had been fired on the right 
bank was at the Porte St. Denis, some time about eleven o'clock 
in the morning. The barricade was taken by the National 
Guards ; and by the time that Lamoriciere came up, the afiair 
was over. Having entered the faubourg, which he cleared with 
extraordinary vigor (for the courage of the General was most 
heroic throughout) he turned to the left into the Faubourg Pois- 
sonniere, across which an immense barricade had been raised, 
from which the insurgents were beaten into the Place Lafayette, 
in which is situated the magnificent Church of St. Vincent de Paul, 
and near it the debarcadere of the Northern Railway. This 
place forms a circle, from which streets radiate, all of which 
were barricaded, and defended from the houses as well ; here the 
battle raged for an hour and a half, and the insurgents, beaten, fell 
back on La Villette ; so that, at the time General Cavaignac 
had to cail on Lamoriciere for assistance, the latter was in pos- 
session of the Faubourgs St. Martin, St. Denis, and Poissonniere. 
At ten o'clock at night the sitting of the Assembly was re- 
sumed for the purpose of receiving a report from General Cavaig- 
nac. The gallant General, in his accustomed quaint way, stated 
that he regretted that he had not complete details to afibrd them. 
He had counted upon being able to remain all day in the neigh- 
borhood of the Assembly to receive the different reports, but so 
serious a resistance had broken out in the Faubourg du Temple, 
that he had felt it his duty to lead there the greater part of the 
forces that were around the Assembly. He could not therefore 
tell what had passed in the Rue St. Antoine, or in the Rue St. 
Jacques, but he would go there directly, and communicate his 
information to the Assembly. At that moment the troops were 
masters of the Boulevards to within a quarter of a league of the 
Temple, without having met any serious resistance. The resist- 
ance had been more serious in the Faubourgs Poissonniere, St. 
Denis, St. Martin, and especially in the Faubourg du Temple. 
General Lamoriciere and General Lafontaine had, with the 
troops he had left them, been able to master the three first-named 

I 



194 THE INSURRECTION— THE ASSEMBLY. 

faubourgs. The resistance in the fourth, so unfortunately ener- 
getic, had been completely surmounted. The portions of the 
town between the Boulevards and northern barriers were, to his 
knowledge, subdued in point of fact — but he had no doubt the 
insurgents would recommence if left to themselves. Measures 
had, however, been taken to prevent them. 

Having made this communication, the General disappeared. 
M. Garnier Pages added some further information. He said that 
M. Arago had marched at the head of the troops engaged in the 
twelfth Arrondissement (the Pantheon quarter), that he had 
mounted several barricades, in order to parley with the insur- 
gents ; that having vainly summoned them to surrender, he was 
obliged to have recourse to cannon ; that at that moment the in- 
surgents had possession only of a few points in the eleventh and 
twelfth Arrondissements, and he had no doubt that General 
Damesme, who commanded in that quarter, would the next morn- 
ing extinguish the insurrection on that side. He mentioned that 
he had himself been over from the first to the eighth Arrondisse- 
ments inclusive, and could say that throughout the circulation 
was free. M. de Lamartine had accompanied General Cavaignac 
in the Faubourg du Temple, and shared his dangers. He paid 
a like compliment to General Lamoriciere, and stated that he 
had no doubt that the only barricades on that side, those of the 
Faubourg St. Antoine, would be taken in the morning. He an- 
nounced that General Thomas, commanding the National Guards, 
had been wounded. General Bedeau, commanding at the Hotel- 
de-Ville, had also been wounded. Two members of the Assem- 
bly, M. Domes and M. Bixio had both been grievously wounded, 
(the former mortally), and he concluded with an assurance of the 
persevering activity of the Government. 

After he had spoken, M. Degoussee demanded the arrest of the 
anarchical Journalists, and some called for the state of siege, on 
which M. Duclerc, the Finance Minister, who also had been 
present at the Faubourg du Temple, rose and said, that the Gov- 
ernment would not have recourse to a coifp d'etat. It being 
then midnight the sitting was declared suspended until eight 
o'clock the following morning. 



MEMBERS OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 195 

When General Cavaignac left the Assembly, he proceeded im- 
mediately to the H6tel-de-Ville, where he found General Bedeau, 
who had been wounded at seven o'clock, and having received 
from him an account of the measures that had been taken to 
clear the environs of this great center of operations, he remitted 
the command to General Duvivier. A more judicious appoint- 
ment could not have been made, for it was this officer who had 
organized the Garde Mobile, which was in much force on this 
point. 

General Cavaignac next proceeded to the Sorbonne, the head- 
quarters of General Damesme, to Avhom was committed the com- 
mand of the left bank, and he found this gallant officer, fated to 
fall the next morning, quietly seated on a borne of the Rue de la 
Harpe. The interview between these two soldiers in that ancient 
narrow street, remarkable for possessing the remains of the Roman 
baths of the Emperor Julian, hallowed as the highway of eccle- 
siastical and philosophical scholarship, and now the Boulevard of 
more savage barbarians than those who extinguished Roman civ- 
ilization — this interview was more interesting than that which 
awaited the Minister of War on his visiting the Presidency of the 
Assembly at two o'clock in the morning. 

We have already had glimpses of some members of the Pro- 
visional Government : M. de Lamartine braved the barricades 
like a soldier ; M. Gamier Pages scampered through the streets, 
making speeches to the National Guards ; both one and the other 
had to encounter the most chilling regards and cold dissatisfac- 
tion. The sensitive poet, it is said, would gladly have retrieved 
his errors by a glorious death. We shall find that fine old man, 
and great master of science, M. Arago, acting with his usual 
energy, but for the present we must accompany General Ca- 
vaignac. Having reached the Presidency, and done there what 
was necessary, he M'as about to leave for his last station, the 
War Office, his official residence, but his departure was opposed 
by M. Ledru-Rollin. That gentleman's history for some hours 
previous, presents a curious picture of earthly purgatorial misery. 

As it was necessary for some member of the Executive Com- 
mission to remain at his post, M. Ledru-Rolhn " did not quit the 



196 INSURGENT OPERATIONS. 

Presidency, nor did M. Marie ; but unfortunately for the former, 
the National Guards conceived the suspicion that he was deep in 
the conspiracy, and instead of being treated as a governor, he 
was regarded rather as a prisoner, desirous of making his escape. 
He was harassed with questions, to which he could give no 
answer in absence of the War Minister, and his ignorance was 
treated as hypocrisy. It was well that he escaped safe and sound, 
for a member of the Assembly, M. de Maleville, nearly fell a. 
victim to an unfortunate resemblance which he bore to the un- 
popular Executive Commissioner. The cool General Cavaignac 
did not afford the victim — relieved by his presence— the satisfac- 
tion of a sympathizing state of excitement ; he answered briefly 
and with propriety, according to his conception of duty under 
such grave circumstances, and when Ledru-Rollin protested 
against his going away, and leaving him exposed to a renewal 
of danger, he threw himself on a sofa, and sought for a revival 
of energy in a short sleep. 

Having followed the operations on the right bank, and kept in 
view the imposing figure of Cavaignac — the man destined to 
save French society in its greatest hour of peril — we now pro- 
pose to notice the corresponding movements of the insurgents on 
the left bank. We have already mentioned, that supposing the 
insurgents of the right bank to descend the Hue St. Denis, and 
the insurgents of the left to descend the Rue St. Jacques, they 
would both meet immediately above the H6tel-de-Ville, at the 
Pont Notre-Dame ; but to reach this bridge, there is another 
bridge to be crossed, leading still in pretty nearly a right line 
from the Faubourg St. Jacques to the Rue de la Cite, this inter- 
mediate street being on an island. It became important to de- 
fend this bridge, called St. Michel, and here, consequently, one 
of the severest engagements of the first day was .fought. At an 
early hour of the morning, the 11th Legion of National Guards 
assembled before the Luxembourg, where they remained several 
hours in a state of inaction, during which such excited contro- 
versies prevailed among them, that a collision was apprehended. 
To put an end to such a state of anarchy in a legion of that force 
to which the defense of society was intrusted, a Captain of the 



THE NATIONAL GUARDS. 197 

3d Company marched to the scene of action, followed by the 4th 
Company, the officers of the latter being many of them Red Re- 
publicans. They marched to the Pont St. Michel, on which 
they took up their station, close to that gloomy receptacle ni 
which are exposed bodies found murdered, called the Morgue. 
From this they could perceive that on another bridge, a little 
lower down, called from its small size the Petit Pont, which 
connects the quay with the Hotel-Dieu, and Notre-Dame, an 
enormous barricade had been raised, upward of eight feet in 
height, and so strongly built that it could only be destroyed by 
cannon. 

At this time a company of soldiers appeared, and while the 
officers were deliberating firing was heard. A detachment of the 
Garde Republicaine had attacked the barrier from the side of the 
hospital. Instead of proceeding to make a diversion, the officers 
of the National Guards began to dispute, some showing that their 
sympathies were with the insurgents, and the opportunity was 
lost, for after a fight of about twenty minutes the Garde Repub- 
licaine withdrew. The Captain of the soldiery called on such of 
the National Guards as were well-disposed to join him, to advance 
against the barricades which protected that end of the Faubourg 
St, Jacques. The attack was made, and the barricade was 
found to be impregnable, except to camion. All this time, Gen- 
eral Bedeau was attacking the barricades around the H6tel-de- 
Ville, while General Damesme was clearing the neighborhood of 
the Sorbonne, and the approaches to the Pantheon — which was 
destined subsequently to be attacked — with the intention then of 
uniting their forces eventually, for a move on the Faubourg St. 
Antoine on the one side, while General Lamoriciere came down 
from the other. 

It was to General Damesme that M. Arago joined himself, 
and acted in the way described in the communication made to 
the Assembly by M. Gamier Pages. It was in the Rue des 
Mathurins that M. Arago mounted a barricade, and summoned 
the insurgents to surrender ; but having failed to produce effect, 
a piece of cannon was brought up, and the barricade was taken, 
At nightfall, the barricade of the Petit Pont, already described, 



198 THE INSURRECTION— CLOSE OF THE FIRST DAY. 

was taken with cannon, and the bridge and quay of St. Michel 
occupied by the troops of General Bedeau. 

There had been killed in the course of this day, on the side of 
the Government, thirty-five, and one hundred and sixty wounded, 
although the fighting had not commenced before twelve o'clock, 
and was over for the day at eight o'clock. It was evident that 
the fighting would be renewed next day, and that cannon would 
have to play a conspicuous part in the battle. Orders were ac- 
cordingly issued by General Cavaignac to have cannon and am- 
munition brought in from the great arsenal of Vincennes, but it 
was no easy matter to accomplish such a task. The expedition- 
ary party were obliged, for the purpose of diverting suspicion, and 
of not losing time by attacking barricades, to make a journey of 
four leagues and a half on going, and nearly five returning, being 
about three times the ordinary distance. Such then was the 
state of Paris on the nights of the 23d — 24th of June. 

On one side of the Seine, the insurgents preparing to regain 
the advantages they had lost ; on the other, the General ready to 
open the morning with the siege of the Pantheon. The inhabit- 
ants of one half of the city ignorant of the formidable forces in 
the hands of the other half, who would, if victorious, exercise 
their power with the merciless brutality of the conquerors of a 
sacked city. The members of the National Assembly, preparing 
in their agitated beds, to give the last blow to a discredited Gov- 
ernment. General Cavaignac calmly awaiting the progress of 
measures, the effect of which he had calculated with the science 
of genius. And in the dawn of the summer morning, a watchful 
expeditionary party moving on Paris, with artillery charged with 
the merciless thunderbolts of man. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE INSTJHRECTION, SECOND DAY, JUNE 24th THE ASSEMBLY. 

The sitting of the Assembly was resumed a little after eight 
o'clock. The President stated, that barricades had been raised 
and fortified in many places during the night ; there was no 
doubt that the struggle would be renewed ; nevertheless, he 
hoped, from the concentration of military forces that had been 
made, especially in the quarter of St. Jacques and in part of the 
Faubourg St. Antoine, that in a few hours the insurrection would 
be got under. Having announced the arrival of reinforcements 
of troops and National Guards, he proposed that the Assembly 
should accept a decree, by which the Republic would adopt the 
children and widows of citizens who had fallen on the 23d June, 
or who might yet fall in combating for the defense of order, of 
liberty, and of republican institutions. It was unanimously 
adopted, and the sitting was suspended for half an hour, at the 
end of which time M. Duprat rose and said — 

"It is not in my own nam.e, but in that of several of my col- 
leagues, that I am about to submit a proposition that has been 
inspired by the gravity of present circumstances. Speeches are 
idle, when energetic action is required from all, corresponding to 
the salvation and the wants of the Republic. The following is 
the proposition : — ' The National Assembly decrees : Paris is in 
a state of siege. All powers are concentrated in the hands of 
General Cavaignac' " 

A sharp and confused conversation followed, which was put an 
end to by M. Bastide, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who rose and 
said — 

" Citizens I in the name of the country I supplicate you to put 
an end to your deliberations, and to vote as soon as possible. In 
an hour, perhaps, the H6tel-de-Ville will be taken. Such is the 
report received this present moment." 



200 ASPECT OF PARIS. 



After this announcenient the decree was adopted; although not 
without protests and interruptions. The Executive Commission 
forthwith sent in their resignation. A resolution was passed, 
that a delegation of members should be sent to the head-quarters 
of the commanding officer, for the purpose of settling the best 
manner of giving effect to the desires of the Assembly, that their 
feelings should be manifested to the Garde Mobile and troops of 
the line. The sitting was then suspended to one o'clock. 

This morning the inhabitants of Paris had their eyes opened 
to the character of the struggle which was now fully developed. 
It was one of those sunless summer days, which weighs upon the 
spirits and predisposes to gloomy anticipations. Partial rumors 
were flying about, and for once they could be taxed with but 
little exaggeration. There had yet been no impediment in the 
way of free circulation, and the people flocking to the Place de 
la Concorde, or the quays, could hear distinctly the dull, heavy 
sound of the cannon on the left bank, followed occasionally by 
the hoarse roll of falling barricades or perforated buildings. The 
language heard among the better classes of persons was that 
of sorrow and disgust ; very different, indeed, from that surprise, 
mingled with strange, mysterious expectation with which the 
public mind had been affected in February. By-and-by Com- 
missaries of Police were seen in all directions, announcing the 
decree by which Paris was declared in a state of siege, in virtue 
of which all persons were ordered to return to their homes, with 
injunctions on no account to stir abroad. The thoroughfares 
were soon afterward occupied by National Guards, and no one 
in the dress of a civilian could walk ten paces without being 
accosted, and challenged as to his place of residence, to which he 
would be imperatively ordered to return, escorted from man to 
man until he entered his door. By degrees these measures of 
precaution became more and more strict. Females had been 
arrested bearing communications in their hair, and even ammu- 
nition concealed under a variety of forms, Tn the linings of 
carriages seizures had been made. There was a suspension of 
funerals, notwithstanding the season, on account of burials being 
simulated for sake of forwarding munitions of war to the rebels. 



ASPECT OF PARIS. 201 



Men even feigned to be wounded, the better to effect the same 
object. Hawkers of lemonade and other cooling drinks were 
seized, on suspicion of vending poisonous drugs to the National 
Guards and soldiery. Signals and hghts had been observed in 
windows, and in consequence of these grounds for suspicion, not 
only people could not stir out of doors., but they were forbidden 
to approach their windows ; and the window-blinds were ordered 
to be thrown back, lest some spy should be making observations, 
or assassin meditating his aim. The ear was then obliged to do 
the office of the eye. There was something very sad in the mid- 
day silence of a usually animated city — such silence as resulted 
from the forced stoppage of its business and out-door life. It 
was much more sad when the eye, forbidden to scan the outer 
aspect of things, the ear took up the low-toned conversations of 
the National Guards on duty — the challenge to the passengers — 
the momentary investigation, and often the arrest and conveyance 
to the next post ; or a carriage rapidly approaching was stopped 
with a menacing command, and after a long interval, the rapid 
renewal of its journey told it had been liberated, or its slow, that 
it had been arrested, and was in the act of being conducted to a 
jail yard. The marching of troops, the clattering of dragoons, 
the lumbering roll of artillery and munition wagons, told their 
own story. Then the communication within doors, the crowding 
of the domestics of the numerous families that fill a large French 
house, and the repeated scraps of intelligence brought by such 
indefatigable agents from that invincible reservoir of intelligence 
— the porter's lodge. As usual with people in that class, it was 
the horrible that prevailed. Now, it was the story of a woman 
caught doing some act of cruelty, such as could be imagined only 
by an apostasy from her sex ; then, it was a Guard Mobile borne 
by, whose limbs had been cruelly mutilated. The reports of 
artillery were deafening, harrowing, or mysterious, according to 
points of distance. Such was Paris in one of its aspects, from 
the time the state of siege was put into execution, until the Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine had fallen. 

The military operations of the 24th opened on the left bank, 
with the attack on the Pantheon, conducted by General Damesme. 



202 MILITARY OPERATIONS. 

Those who have visited this superb building, designed for a Chris- 
tian temple, turned into a Pantheon, then restored to its pristine 
use, then deprived of all earthly use v^^hatever — a monument of 
change, ending, like every such change, in sterility — know that 
it is approached from the Faubourg St. Jacques by a short, wide 
street, the Rue Soufflot. All do not know, however, that there 
had lately been pierced a new street opposite to the old, extend- 
ing to the Rue de la Harpe, a circumstance which favored Gen- 
eral Damesme's attack. Having collected his forces in this new 
street. Rue Nouvelle Soufflot, he opened from thence his artillery 
on the bronze gates of the no longer sacred temple. Fifteen 
hundred insurgents were stationed at different parts, high and 
low, and their firing, as well as that of the assailants, enveloped 
the fapade in smoke, pierced at each instant with red flashes of 
musketry. The head of a colossal model of the Republic, taken 
off by a ball, fell ominously, just before the needful breach was 
made. The brazen gates yielded, after an hour's time, to the 
knocks of war, and the General in command ordered his soldiers 
to advance under cover of the houses ; while, discarding his pre- 
cept so far as it concerned himself, he rode up the center of the 
street, exposed to a storm of musketry. At this time the build- 
ing called I'Ecole de Droit, commanding the entry of the Pantheon 
from the northwest angle of the square in which the building 
stands, was in possession of the Garde Mobile, who by their 
fire covered the advancing party, who had to climb over a high 
railing, and break the grille before the soldiers could enter. It 
was entered at length, and found evacuated. Within the build- 
ing they discovered the headless trunks of five prisoners, the 
heads having been cut off by a man disguised in woman's clothes. 
Officers were found hung in the caveaux ; and these dead wit- 
nesses conveyed a notion of the doom that awaited the city, should 
the savage insurgents establish their Red Republic. 

While General Damesme was seizing the great fortress of the 
insurrection. General Duvivier was executing a work of no less 
importance. The insurgents, beaten from the lower part of the 
Faubourg St. Jacques, took up a position in the Place Maubert, 
in which terminates a narrow, straggling street, descending from 



MILITARY SUCCESSES REPORTED. 203 

the left side of the Pantheon, called Rue de la Montague Gene- 
vieve. The street Avhich connects the lower part of the Fau- 
bourg St. Jacques with this place is the Rue Galande, and at 
the top of this street, at the other side of the faubourg, and close 
to it, is the Church St. Severin ; so that the base of a triangle, 
of which the Pantheon may be supposed the head, would show a 
strongly-barricaded and fortified church at one end, the Place 
Maubert on the other, with the narrow, intervening streets Fau- 
bourg St. Jacques and Rue Montague St. Genevieve. The in- 
surgents, when beaten out of the Pantheon, attempted to fall back 
on the latter street, under the idea, no doubt, that their rear M-as 
well protected. But at this time a tremendous battle was fight- 
ing in the Place Maubert, which, with the barricades of the ad- 
joining streets, possessed a small, strong-built corps de garde in 
the center. The Place resisted the Garde Mobile for an hour 
and a half, and was only taken after great loss of life. The gal- 
lantry of the Garde Mobile shone here most conspicuously. 

These important advantages were quickly communicated to the 
Assembly. 

The suspended sitting was renewed at a quarter past 1 o'clock, 
when the Minister of Finance rose and stated that it was not 
true, as reported, that the National Assembly had been stripped 
of the troops necessary for its defense. He then announced, that 
although the fighting on the part of the insurgents was proceed- 
ing with the greatest energy, yet the latest news was most satis- 
factory. The Place Maubert had been taken by the Garde Mo- 
bile, as well as the barricades of the neighboring streets, by the 
Garde Mobile and troops of the line, and the insurgents driven 
toward the Home Depot and the Rue St. Victor. The Hotel- 
de-Ville was covered by fourteen battalions, commanded by Gen- 
eral Duvivier. 

The sitting was again suspended, and was renewed in twenty- 
five minutes, when the President rose and delivered the following 
communication : — 

" Citizen President, — I have the honor to announce to you 
that the Pantheon has just been taken, after a sharp cannonade. 



204 MILITARY SUCCESSES REPORTED. 

The citizen Boulay (de la Meurtlie), who has just entered at the 
head of a column of troops of the line and of National Guard, 
has been good enough to make me the instrument of this com.- 
munication. ^^ -n^^^T,-,^ 

" DOZERY, 
^^ Pupil of the Normal School.'''' 

The President continued, — "I have to announce to the Cham- 
ber at the same time that the barricade raised at the Place Mau- 
bert has been completely destroyed." 

The sitting was then suspended, and renewed at forty minutes 
past one, when some information was given of the state of things 
in the neighborhood of the Temple. The insurgents had been 
driven out of the Rue du Temple into- the Rue de la Corderie. 
After this had been mentioned, M. de Dampierre stated that he 
had just learned from a colonel who had arrived that moment 
from the Pantheon, that 1500 insurgents had then laid down 
their arms. The sitting was again suspended. 

At half-past two o'clock the Assembly resumed, in order to 
receive a communication from M. de Beaumont (de la Somme). 
He stated that he had been at the H6tel-de-Ville in communica- 
tion with General Duvivier, at the moment the attack was 
making on the Place Maubert. Before he left, it was known 
that the barricade had there been taken. Several insurgents had 
presented themselves to General Duvivier with offers to lay down 
their arms on conditions. The General had explained to them 
what was the expressed will of the National Assembly and of the 
Executive, and they left with a promise to repeat what they had 
heard, and seek to induce their comrades to lay down their arms. 
Citizen Bonjean recounted a trait of heroism on the part of an 
old soldier, in whose arms his son, already wounded, had been 
shot dead, on which the father called out his second son, and 
gave him the musket of his brother who had just been killed. 
The name of that heroic citizen was Leclerc. It was stated by 
another member that on the barricade of the Place Maubert was 
seized a drapeau, on which was inscribed, "13^ barricade des 
ateliers nationaux, ecole centrales In the midst of this drapeau 
was a bonnet rouge, on a white ground. Some satisfactory 



GENERAL DAMESME MORTALLY WOUNDED. 205 

information was given with respect to the faubourgs on the right 
bank, where General Lamoriciere commanded ; and after a dec- 
laration from the Ministers that they only consented to hold the 
posts to which they had been appointed by the Executive Com- 
mission of Government, now dissolved, until the danger was over, 
the sitting was suspended. 

We must now return to General Damesme. We left that 
gallant officer in possession of the Pantheon, and of the head of 
the street Montague de la Genevieve, the other end of which was 
also in the hands of the troops : while he left to Colonel Thomas 
the care of following up advantages on this side, he turned to the 
right into the Rue de la Vieille Estrapade, of which the Rue de 
Fourcy is a continuation into the Rue Mouffetard, better known 
to the students of the first great revolution as the Faubourg St. 
Marceau, at all times the wickedest and most miserable quarter 
of Paris. Having taken some barricades, he was stopped by one 
at the Rue de Fourcy, and an impression having been made on 
it by cannon, he ordered the company of the Garde Mobile to 
take it with the bayonet. As their ardor did not appear equal 
to his own, he impatiently called on them to advance with more 
speed ; and, accompanying the word with a soldier's action, he 
received a wound that proved mortal : the command then de- 
volved on Colonel_ Thomas. This deplorable event took place 
about two o'clock, but not until the gallant soldier had struck a 
decisive, although unhappily not yet final blow at the insurrec- 
tion on this side. In the evening General de Brea was charged 
with the command that had been held by the brave Damesme. 
On receivmg this appomtment from General Cavaignac, which 
seemed to be gratifying to the feelings of the veteran, he predicted 
that the day following, being that of his fete — ^for it was the fes- 
tival of St. John, after whom he was called — would bring him 
success and happiness. Having followed up the advantages 
gained by his predecessor, and continued by Colonel Thomas, he 
made arrangements to give, the next day, a final blow to the 
insurrection. His prediction was unhappily for himself not to be 
verified, for the greatest stain of all the stains on that insurrec- 
tion is connected with the fate of this gallant old man 



206 OPERATIONS ON THE RIGHT BANK. 

The Assembly continued to meet from time to time to receive 
communications, but none were of marked importance until the 
resumed sitting of nine o'clock, evening. 

We have now to consider the operations of this day on the 
right bank of the river. General Lamoriciere had, on the evening 
before, as has already been described, cleared the Faubourg St. 
Martin, and even the Faubourg St. Denis, while General Cavaig- 
nac had by his successes on the Faubourg du Temple prevented 
the insurgents from carrying assistance to their allies, and of act- 
ing on the flank of the gallant Lamoriciere. The latter had not 
sufficient forces at his command to watch the whole of the large 
line committed to his care, and in the morning the three bar- 
riers, Rochechouart, Poissonniere, and St. Denis, were found to 
be turned into powerful citadels. It beoomes necessary now to 
describe this ground in order to show its formidable character. 
The barriers Rochechouart and Poissonniere are at the top of 
the same street, and St. Denis at the top of the faubourg of the 
same name ; both are very steep and precipitous. These barriers 
are quite close to each other, and a little way further on toward 
the west is the barrier of Montmartre, overlooked by the great 
hill of that name..-. Between the barrier of Poissonniere and St. 
Denis there is, of course, the barrier wall which runs here to the 
extent of about half a mile. On the Paris side of this wall is a 
piece of what would be called waste ground, only that it was now 
being turned to the noblest of purposes, being the site of an hos- 
pital in course of construction, which was to have borne the 
name of its munificent founder, Louis-Philippe. This piece of 
ground, called the Clos St. Lazare, was inclosed on all sides : on 
the north by the barrier wall, on the east by the debarcadere of 
the Northern Railway, on the west in great part by the houses in 
the Faubourg Poissonniere, and on the south partly by an old wall, 
with the spaces connected by barricades or boards. The Church 
of St. Vincent de Paul, which the reader recollects to have been 
described as situate in the Place Lafayette, the scene of a battle 
on the evening before, had its rise toward the center of the 
southern wall, from which it was separated by a short street. 

The reader will now understand the importance of the com- 



CLOS ST. LAZARE. 207 



bats in this quarter the evening before, and how necessary it was 
to clear the approaches to the Clos St. Lazare, which was to the 
insuro:ents on the right bank what the Pantheon had been on 
the left. The Church of St. Vincent de Paul, which had been 
in the hands of the insurgents for some time, became now the 
head-quarters of General Lamoricicre. This Clos Lazare was a 
most powerful position. It was covered, as we have said, by 
buildings on the east and west side. The entry was defended 
by a wall which was pierced with loop-holes, through which the 
defenders could shoot down the soldiery. When entered, the 
obstacles to military operations were very embarrassing, for the 
ground was covered with blocks of stone in course of being cut 
and prepared for the half-built hospital in the center, and were 
so scattered, as to oblige the soldiers to separate as completely 
as if they had to scale a mountain, exposed to the fire of the 
insurgents concealed behind these blocks, or protected by the cen- 
tral building. This was not all. The barrier wall was itself 
pierced from the outside throughout its whole extent, and from 
behind this cover the insurgents could fire deliberately through 
the loop-holes without fear of danger. A flanking fire could 
also be kept up from the houses of the faubourg, while the stone 
building at the barrier which forms the offices of the octroi col- 
lection, was filled with marksmen. The Faubourg Poissonniere 
itself, between the Rue Lafayette and the barrier, was powerfully 
barricaded, as well as the streets running laterally into the Rue 
Rochechouart ; and as the force under the command of General 
Lamoriciere was far from being sufficient for a general attack on 
all points, the day of the 24th was devoted principally to the 
clearing of the barricades in the neighborhood. It was not 
until six o'clock in the evening that the barrier of Rochechouart 
was taken ; but it was restored in the night. It was there that 
one of the leaders, the editor of the journal called " Pere 
Duchesne," fell. He had ensconced himself in an angle in 
which his person was completely protected ; and he had persons 
employed to load his muskets quickly that he should not lose a 
moment of time. Being a skillful marksman, he had shot down 
a vast number before he received his own death- wound. The 



208 SUCCESS OF THE TROOPS. 

cambric shirt under the blouse of the workman, and the var- 
nished shoes, excited attention, and estabhshed his identity. 

While the combat raged here all day, the barrier St. Denis at 
the east end of the barrier wall and the faubourg, was the scene 
of no less severe fighting, which terminated in the success of the 
troops and National Guards toward evening, but not until Gen 
eral Bourgon was killed. General Korte was wounded as well 
as a Colonel of National Guards. While the fighting was pro- 
ceeding on both flanks of the Clos St, Lazare, the great barricade 
of the Faubourg du Temple, that had the evening before defied 
the efibrts made against it, yielded at length to a fresh attack. 
The bridge over the canal of which we have spoken, was held 
by troops. This canal proceeding westward, takes a bend a little 
higher up, and bisects another street, that of Grange aux Belles; 
it then continues a course parallel to that of the Faubourg St. 
Martin, from which it is separated by a fine hospital and some 
intermediate streets ; and thus formed an obstacle to the troops. 
While they were holding the faubourg at the bridge, a party of 
insurgents took up a position at the west side at the corner of the 
Rue Alibert, and from behind a barricade were shooting down 
the soldiery, when they were perceived by the National Guards 
in the Douane at the opposite side of the canal, who began to 
exchange shots with them. The insurgents then threw them- 
selves into a great salt store, from which they had to be dislodged 
by cannon. 

While the Faubourg St. Denis was thus made to cause a 
diversion in aid of the insurgents in the Faubourg Poissonniere, 
holding the Clos St. Lazare and the Faubourg du Temple with 
the adjacent neighborhood, giving work enough to save the flank 
of the Faubourg St. Denis, there was a base given to the insur- 
rection on the Faubourg du Temple by the barricades in the Rue 
du Temple, separated from the faubourg by the intersecting line 
of the Boulevards, and the streets on all sides of the ground 
where the Temple itself once stood — the Temple from which 
Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, and the saintly Elizabeth, were 
taken to death — all that ground was the scene of severe fighting. 
The lower part of the Rue St. Martin, especially about the 



EFFORTS OF THE INSURGENTS— THEIR POSITIONS. 209 

Cloitre St. Meri, the theater of the famous repubUcan movement 
of April, 1834, maintained its insurrectionary reputation. The 
Rue Rambuteau, which runs from the Marche des Innocens, 
had to be attacked by cannon. Some barricades in the neigh- 
borhood of the Place de la Bastile were destroyed ; and the 
Church of St. Gervais, immediately behind the H6tel-de-Ville, 
and forming the citadel of the Rue St. Antoine, or rather ad- 
vanced redoubt against that point of all the insurgents' efforts, 
was retaken by cannon. 

Thus at the close of Saturday evening, the second day, it was 
clear, that although the troops had had considerable successes on 
all points, there was no certainty, notwithstanding the continuous 
arrival of reinforcements, especially of National Guards, that 
advantages of a decisive kind could be obtained the following 
day. The Clos St. Lazare was in the hands of the insurrec- 
tion ; the neighborhood beyond the wall from Montmartre to La 
Villette, a town beyond the Barrier St. Denis, was disaffected. 
In La Villetto there had been sharp fighting. The Faubourg 
St. Antoine had not been even molested. The dangerous 
neighborhood of Popincourt, between the Faubourg du Temple 
and that fortress of the insurrection, was still barricaded. The 
Rue St. Antoine descending to the Hotel-de-Ville, was barricaded 
throughout; and every house a fortress, with the exception of 
those parts about the Hotol-de-Yille in which it merged, and 
which were cleared ; that immense street was a defile of the 
most formidable character in the hands of the insurgents. Their 
formidable positions on the bank of the river had been carried, it 
was true, but there still remained much to be done. The bar- 
riers, from that of St. Jacques to the main entrance of the Garden 
of Plants, were occupied by the insurgents, who were able to 
communicate by the bridge of Austerlitz with the Faubourg St. 
Antoine. 

Such being the state of things, it will cause no surprise that, 
notwithstanding the public character of the communications 
made to the Assembly, the situation was looked upon by the 
head of the executive power to be so critical and full of peril, 
that he thought it his duty, in his anxiety for the safety of 



210 CRITICAL STATE OF AFFAIRS— HYACINTHE MARTIN. 

the Assembly, to suggest the question, whether it ought not to 
remove to Versailles or some other town. The Assembly had, 
however, derived encouragement from the arrival of reinforce- 
ments, the advantages already gained, the devotedness shown by 
the National Guards, whose enthusiasm was now kindled, the 
fidelity and wondrous bravery of the -Garde Mobile, and the hon- 
orable apprehension that the departure of the Assembly might 
cause a fatal panic. It was nevertheless the duty of General 
Cavaignac to leave to the Assembly the right of forming such a 
decision, and to disengage himself from responsibility by an ex- 
posure of the true position of things. 

As the fidelity of the Garde Mobile proved, in fact, the salva- 
tion of Paris, it is with pleasure I remember having had the 
good fortune to see Hyacinthe Martin that evening accompanied 
in triumph to the Assembly. This lad, a tall, fair stripling of 
eighteen, had mounted a barricade in the Rue Menilmontant, a 
short street, fatal to Jean Jacques Housseau, who did not recover 
his fall while descending it. But however fatal to the precursor 
of the first revolution, it was glorious to Hyacinthe Martin. 
Amid a shower of bullets he carried off the flag of the insurgents, 
which I saw perforated with balls. By leave of Lamoriciere, 
the hero was sent with the flag to General Cavaignac at the 
Assembly, who borrowing from General Charras his Cross of the 
Legion of Honor, placed it on the bosom of the brave youth. 
" Oh, how happy it will make my father I" was the touching 
observation of the gallant Mobile. 

The official communication made by the President of the 
Assembly at the resumed sitting at nine o'clock was, that the Fa«u- 
bourg St. Jacques had been disengaged. He had just received 
dispatches from General de Brea, that the Faubourg St. Marceau 
had also been reduced. The barricades in the Rue Mouffetard, 
behind the Pantheon, had been taken, and reconnaisances pushed 
as far as the Garden of Plants. With regard to the H6tel-de- 
Ville, General Duvivier, although he had from twelve to thirteen 
battalions at his disposal, and eight pieces of cannon, could not 
fully obtain the results he desired. He had, however, not only 
maintained his position, but had gained ground. As to General 



RESULTS OF THE SECOND DAY'S CONFLICT. 211 

Lamoriciere, commanding the third column, he had, wherever it 
was possible for him to bring on an engagement, obtained com- 
plete success. The Faubourgs St. Denis, St. Martin, and Pois- 
sonniere, had been cleared to within short distances of the barrier, 
and the circulation in the most important parts of the faubourgs 
was clear. There was one point against which operations could 
not be vigorously carried — the Clos St. Lazare. The struggle 
was still going on, and force could not be brought to bear upon 
it until other points were completely secured. 

Two barricades yet remained unattacked in the Faubourg du 
Temple, the troops being fatigued ; but they would be attacked 
at daybreak next m.orning. M. Gerard stated that General 
Lafontaine had been obliged to yield his command on account of 
a wound received that morning at the last barricade of the Rue 
Faubourg St. Denis. His wound was not, however, very serious. 
The President resumed by reading a communication from, the 
Prefect of Police, that the barricade raised at the Cloitre St. 
Meri had been taken. The insurgents and the Garde Repub- 
licaine, who had taken it, had on each side considerably suffered. 
All the communications in the Faubourg St. Martin and near 
the barrier were well guarded. The artillery was pointed on 
the Chaussee, but the fighting continued near the Northern Rail- 
way. The Assembly then adjourned its public sitting to the 
next morning. What passed afterward, and which was regard- 
ed as private, has already been stated 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE INSURRECTION, THIRD DAY, JUNE 25th THE ASSEMBLY. 

The plan of operations for Sunday was clearly comprehended. 
It was considered that, owing to the advantages gained the pre- 
ceding day, and with the reinforcements that had arrived, Gen- 
eral Lamoriciere would be able in the course of the day to make 
a successful assault on the Clos St. Lazare — the great impedi- 
ment to his marching on the flank of the Faubourg St. Antoine. 
While General Lamoriciere would be thus operating with a view 
to a flank attack, General Duvivier would ascend from the Hotel- 
de-Ville through the Rue St. Antoine to the Place de la Bastile, 
so as to assault the Faubourg St. Antoine in the front, which by 
the combined operations of the two Generals would be thus com- 
pletely invested. In order to cross the right flank of General 
Duvivier it was arranged that General Negrier should advance 
by the quays of the right bank of the Seine, which from the Hotel- 
de-Ville bend toward the Place de la Bastile, the general place 
of rendezvous, and run almost parallel with the Rue St. Antoine, 
with which the quays are connected by intervening streets. Gen- 
eral Duvivier, owing to the advantages gained in the lower end 
of the streets immediately above the H6tel-de-Ville on both sides 
of the quay, as well as to the liberation of the Faubourg St. 
Jacques and all the neighborhood from the Pantheon to the quays, 
was reheved from all apprehension of an attack on his head- 
quarters, and left free to pursue his course through that Khyber 
Pass — the Rue St. Antoine. While General Negrier secured 
his right flank by his parallel advance up the quays, his left had 
been disengaged by the successes obtained the previous day about 
the Temple, and between the Temple and the street through 
which the decisive advance was now to be made. In the mean 
time it was reckoned that General de Brea, having diseno-ao-ed 
the Garden of Plants and the barriers on the exterior boulevards, 



CLOS ST. LAZARE TAKEN. 213 

Avould be able to reach the opposite side of the Pont d'Austerlitz, 
which connects the front entrance of this garden with the quays 
by which Negrier was ascending, so that both should advance up 
the small piece of canal which leads from these quays to the 
Place de la Bastile, and which is called the Boulevard de Bour- 
bon. By this combination, should it be crowned with success, 
the insurrection would in the course of the day's operations be 
inclosed within its great base the Faubourg St. Antoine. The 
day did not open auspiciously, for at the early hour of seven 
o'clock General Duvivier received a ball in the ankle, of which 
he afterward died, and the command devolved on General Perrot. 
Nor was the Assembly without taking its share in the measures 
that were to determine the operations of the day. As became a 
constituent body appointed to lay the foundation of permanent, or 
presumed to be permanent, institutions, and to secure them by 
moral guarantees, it resolved upon an immediate vote of three 
millions of francs to relieve the necessitous working-people ; and 
the decree of this munificent donation was forwarded to the differ- 
ent Generals for communication to the insurgents. Having per- 
formed this act the Assembly adjourned to one o'clock. 

The insurgents on the right bank in the neighborhood of the 
Clos St. Lazare were enabled by favor of the night to resume 
the positions which had cost so much loss and bloodshed the day 
before. The barrier of Fwochechouart was found to be strongly 
fortified, and covered by the octroi building, in which was stationed 
a party of insurgents. At ten o'clock General Lebreton threw 
a party of soldiers into the abattoirs, or slaughter-houses, which 
commanded the barrier, who opened so effectual a fire that the 
barricade was abandoned ; but the insurgents retired, some into 
the octroi house, and others into the houses at the opposite side 
of the boulevard, through which ran the street de Clignancourt, 
which was barred by a barricade that had yet to be taken. The 
firing at both sides was well sustained. In the mean time an 
attack was opened on the barricades of the Faubourg Poisson- 
niere, and a piece of cannon carried into the Clos St. Lazare, 
which opened fire on the octroi. Severe fighting was going on 
all this time at the Barrier St. Denis, where the troops and Na- 



214 KUE ST. ANTOINE. 



tional Guards suffered severely. While the battle raged thus at 
both flanks of the Clos St, Lazare, a detachment of soldiers 
cleared that wide piece of ground of the foes concealed behind 
great blocks of stone or in the angles of the half-built hospital. 
Towards four o'clock the Clos St. Lazare, the great fortress of 
the right bank, was taken, and the Faubourgs of Rochechouart 
and Poissonniere being freed, the soldiers were enabled to advance 
and take the Barrier of St. Denis in the rear, clear that faubourg, 
as well as the Faubourg of St. Martin, and thus to give a final 
blow to the insurrection in the Faubourg du Temple. 

The difficulties in the center of the city were no less great. 
We have mentioned that General Duvivier was wounded, and 
gave up his command : his successor. General Perrot, on enter- 
ino- the Rue St, Antoine, saw that each house was a fortress. 
From behind mattresses and beds placed in the windows the 
protected marksmen were enabled to take secure aim. There 
was a flanking fire from the barricades of the side streets, and in 
front, barricade after barricade. It was observed, too, that in 
this street, where the insurgents had had two days for the com- 
pletion of their plans, communications had been opened from 
house to house ; a hint not lost on the military. The engineer- 
ing corps of sappers and miners were now called into action, and 
thus were three lines of advance mfade at the same time, one at 
each side of the street within the houses, while the main body 
of troops forced their way through five powerfully constructed 
barricades, extending from the church of St. Paul to the top of 
the street. The last barricade, which separated the Rue St. 
Antoine from the Place de la Bastile, was constructed on scien- 
tific principles, and resembled a citadel with its bastions loop- 
holed to favor cross-firing. It withstood an assault of two hours, 
and several artillerymen were shot down while pointing the 
cannon which thundered against it incessantly. An old gentle- 
man, seventy-two years of age, the Count de Fere, was the first 
to mount it. Encountering no less difficulties. General Negrier 
fought his way to the Place de la Bastile clearing both sides of 
the quay, the connecting bridges having been barricaded and 
fortified. Part of the way, the Island St. Louis, connected by 



DEATH OF NEGRIER— DE BREA'S RESOLVE. 215 

double bridges at each side, gave strength and shelter to the 
insurgents. All difficulties yielded to the energy of Negrier, and 
he kept his appointment with Perrot at the Place de la Bastile. 
He had hardly reached the goal of his desire when he received a 
ball in the head : feeling that he was mortally wounded, he said 
to those about him, " Bear witness that I died like a Frenchman 
and a soldier," and fell. About the same time General Regnault 
was struck treacherously a mortal blow by an insurgent whom 
he had seized, and then saved from being put to death. Colonel 
Charbonnel was also struck by a ball, of which he died. While 
such dearly-bought advantages were gained over the insurgents 
on the right bank of the river, and in the heart of the city, the 
left was the scene of a brutal tragedy. General de Brea having 
followed up the work of his gallant predecessor, Damesme, by 
clearing the left bank and driving the insurgents to the barriers 
of the outer boulevards and Garden of Plants, determined to try 
what could be effected by kindly remonstrance to terminate the 
insurrection in that quarter : the fact of its being his fete-day 
filled him with benevolent hope ; and the decree of the Assem- 
bly, according three millions of francs to the necessitous, of which 
a copy was dispatched to him, afforded the necessary means for 
opening negotiations. At the barrier of St. Jacques the insur- 
gents listened to him-, and laid down their arms : he then pro- 
ceeded along the outer boulevard, which, terminating at the front 
entrance of the Garden of Plants, would have enabled him to 
join the forces of Negrier by the Bridge of Austerlitz. 

On arriving at the barrier of Fontainbleau, he was stopped by 
a line of. barricades, which converted that part of the road into 
a citadel. The shouts of defiance launched by the insurgents, 
amidst cries of " Vive la Republique dhnocratique et sociale,''^ 
convinced Colonel Thomas, who had earned some experience of 
these people, that it was useless to try moral means. The 
General was, on the contrary, quite sanguine, and rode forward 
with the decree in his hand, attended by his aid-de-camp. Cap- 
tain Mangin, and a drummer ; a Colonel of National Guards, 
Desmarets, and the Military Commandant Gobert accompanied 
the General, although not without strong feelings of mistrust. 



216 CAPTURE AND MURDER OF DE BREA. 

The insurgents affecting to listen to the conciliatory language of 
the General, lured him on until they led the little party to the 
barrier gate ; then hurrying them in, they locked it, shouting, 
«' "We have caught them." 

It was then between two and three o'clock. The fiercest 
shouts of triumph marked the success of this treachery. The 
drummer was forced to beat the drum, in order to assemble those 
who were drinking in the cabarets, whence they rushed out in 
all directions. The General, his aid-de-camp, the Colonel of 
National Guards, and the Commandant, were dragged into a 
restaurant, amidst the vilest language ; their clothes were torn 
from their backs ; one fellow spat in the old General's face ; an- 
other was with difficulty restrained from flinging a paving-stone 
at his head ; shouts of " a mort, a mort^'' were vociferated by 
the savages. An attempt was made to save the General by the 
hotel people, who w^ere aiding him to climb over a garden wall, 
when he was pulled back by a fellow on guard ; and a man 
who ofiered a glass of wine to the old man, exhausted with ill 
usage, was drawn away, with threats of being shot for an aristo, 
the slang for aristocrat. The party were next driven to the 
military post, and shut up in the guard-room. Efforts were 
made by the insurgents to induce the General to order his troops 
to lay down their arms, and of course made in vain ; but an 
order for the troops to retire was wrung from him, although 
without the least idea on his part that he would be obeyed. 

On receiving the order, the colonel in command of the troops 
dispatched a message to General Cavaignac, although well aware 
what the answer of a military man would be ; and in the mean 
time he endeavored, by threats and remionstrances, addressed to 
the insurgents, to turn them from the purpose which he divined. 
The General, bravely enduring the contumelies to which he was 
exposed, told his persecutors that he was too old a soldier to fear 
death — although he had been heard touchingly to exclaim, "And 
this on my fete-day !" — and the more impetuous young Mangin 
called on them to put their design into execution at once. By 
degrees, such fellows as were without fire-arms were removed, 
ajid some seven or eight assassins took up their post at an open 



THE BARRICADE TAKEN— CAZALAT'S STATEMENT. 217 

window. The mob raged outside, yet the executioners seemed 
to hesitate : at length a cry was heard, " Voild la Mobile ! fire, 
fire I" and the General and his aid-de-camp fell under a dis- 
charge of several guns. While yet breatinng, his own sword 

a sword of honor given him by a former commander — was passed 
through his body, and the face of Captain Mangin so mutilated, 
as not to be recognizable. The Commandant Gobert, who wit- 
nessed this scene from under a camp-bed, and the Colonel, who 
stood partially concealed in the embrasure of a window, expected 
to be shot next, for tiey had already been beaten and buffeted 
like the victims now murdered before their eyes. A sudden 
re^-ulsion seems, however, to have followed the execution of this 
act of treachery and barbarism, such as could not have been sur- 
passed by savages. 

In a short time after, Colonel Thomas, having learned the ful- 
fillment of his worst apprehensions, prepared to attack the barri- 
cade ; and this fortress, that might have cost many efforts, was 
feebly defended by arms unnerved by the consciousness of guilt. 
More humane than their foes, the Garde Mobile did not, as was 
at first reported, take suraimary vengeance : many prisoners were 
made, and it is from the evidence produced on their trial, some 
months afterward, that this narrative is taken. 

More fortunate were three members of the Assembly, Messrs. 
Larabit, Desvaux, and Cazalat, who, animated by De Brea's 
benevolent intention, carried the decree from barricade to barri- 
cade, until they literally forced their way into the Faubourg St. 
Antoine itself, where they were detained all night ; but they were 
enabled to escape the next morning, after incurring the most 
imminent peril of assassination. M. Cazalat, who drew up an 
account of what he witnessed, states the circumstances under 
which he undertook to bring the decree of the Assembly to the 
notice of the insurgents, in a passage that marks the imminence 
of the danger to which Paris was exposed on this melancholy 
Sunday. 

" At nine o'clock in the morning the Assembly was only guarded 
by a few hundred dragoons and artillerymen ; for General Negrier 
had sent off* two squadrons of dragoons and a column of infantry 

K 



218 ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS. 

to reinforce General Duvivier, who was held in check at the 
H6tel-de-Ville hy a troop of insurgents, who had blockaded, for 
the previous forty-eight hours, the Mairie of the seventh Arron- 
dissement, which is close to that building. 

" General Lamoriciere, with 5000 or 6000 men, attacked the 
barricades of the Clos St. Lazare, the Faubourgs of St. Denis, 
St. Martin, and of the Temple. Between our two corps d'armee, 
thus engaged, the insurgents battled on the fifth, sixth, and sev- 
enth Arrondissements, resting on the eighth and ninth Arron- 
dissements, of which they were complete masters. Notwith- 
standing there were 40,000 National Guards, I was assuied that 
not 4000 National Guards had been engaged, while the rest 
stood aloof, timid and undecided, or took part with the insvirgents. 
I knew that the insurgents were exciting the workmen, very 
numerous in these three Arrondissements, against the National 
Assembly, and the knowledge of these circumstances led me to 
fear lest a body of some 20,000 men should throw themselves, 
by the Faubourgs St. Martin and du Temple, on the troops of 
General Lamoriciere, while engaged with the insurgents who 
were able to communicate freely with their army in the Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine. "While I was thinking of going to consult 
with General Cavaignac, a citizen, whose name I do not know, 
put into my hands ten copies of the decree of the National 
Assembly, and, as if by an illumination of heaven, I resolved on 
reading this decree to the workmen of the sixth and eighth Ar- 
rondissements, who, in my opinion, held at that moment the fate 
of the city at the end of their muskets." 

He then describes the eiForts he made, with some of his col- 
leagues and a body of National Guards, to spread the decree, 
proceeding from barricade to barricade, until they reached the 
citadel of the insurrection itself. 

While soldiers and civilians were alike braving and meeting 
death rather as martyrs in the cause of benevolence, than as de- 
fenders of society, it remained for an heroic priest to surpass, as 
became a Christian minister, all other examples of devotedness, 
and to lay down his life in the hope that his blood might extin- 
guish the cruel, fratricidal strife of fellow-citizens, and appease 



HIS ASSASSINATION. 219 



their mutual hatred. The crowning military combination having 
been completed, by the meeting of the commanding officers on 
the Place of the Bastile, after having suppressed the insurrection 
on all other points, it now remained to attack the Faubourg St. 
Antoine, when the Archbishop of Paris, a plain, mild, firm, and 
pious man, of some fifty years, approached the general in com- 
mand, and asked if the firing might not be suspended while he 
attempted to parley with the insurgents. He had been with 
General Cavaignac, and had obtained the ready sanction of the 
chief of the Executive Power to act according to his pious views. 
Weak from indisposition, mental anxieties, and bodily fatigue, 
the prelate ascended the Rue St. Antoine, that just before had 
been the scene of combat, visiting as he went the ambulances, 
that he might administer consolation to the wounded and dying, 
until he reached the final scene of action. At his request the 
fire was promptly suspended. The astonished insurgents saw a 
man en blouse, bearing a brand in token of peace, followed by 
the Archbishop, who was accompanied by his two Grand Vicars. 
The insurgents descended from their barricades, but not all ani- 
mated by the same disposition. While some felt kindly senti- 
ments, others uttered furious menaces : whether from curiosity, 
or excitement, or fear for the Archbishop, the soldiers pressed 
more and more toward the insurgents, and mutual reproaches 
and denunciations escaped from both sides — even blows were ex- 
changed. In the midst of altercations, which the prelate and 
his vicars tried to suppress, a shot was fired ; the insurgents ex- 
claimed, " Treason I treason !" and took to the barricade, and the 
combat recommenced. The Archbishop, unappalled, although 
between two fires, resolutely mounted the barricade. One of 
his vicars had three balls through his hat. The prelate was in 
the act of descending at the other side, when he was struck by 
a ball from g, window. He was assassinated, as General Brea 
had been, while offering peace and consolation. 

The insurgents seemed horrified for a moment at such an act 
of atrocity. They hastened to acquit themselves, in a rivalry of 
assertion, of all part in the nefarious deed. They carried the 
wounded Archbishop into the hospital. He asked, was his life 



ma "^ MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLY, 



in danger ? The answer was in the affirmative. " Blessed he 
God," was his response, " and may He accept the sacrifice that I 
offer Him anew for the safety of His people. May my death expiate 
my own faults committed in the discharge of my episcopacy !" 

In an hour afterward the firing ceased, after tremendous rav- 
ages on the houses at the entry of the faubourg, which were 
rendered incapable of covering the defenders of the barricades. 
The battle was not yet over ; but, as after the murder of Brea, 
the power of the arm. of the insurrection was paralyzed. 

Not to break the narration of events, which were hurrying on 
with such rapidity, we have not noticed the proceedings of the 
Assembly ; and as the writer was present at its sittings, we shall 
adopt the first person singular, so desirable to be avoided when- 
ever mot indispensably necessary. 

It was a somber day, as if there had been an eclipse of the 
sun. The streets were strictly guarded, so that all circulation 
was forbidden. By means of a ticket of admission to the Nation- 
al Assembly, I was one of the few individuals who, not in the 
costume of a National Guard, was enabled to make way through 
the leading thoroughfares. At 1 o'clock the Assembly met, when 
such reports as had been received were read. They mentioned 
that several barricades in the neighborhood of the Rue St. An- 
toine, -and one in the street itself, had been taken. A project of 
law was then introduced, allowing five additional days for pay- 
ment of bills falling due from the 23d to the 27th ; and after 
some conversation, this useful measure was passed, and the sitting 
suspended. Between two and three o'clock, I saw M. Ducoux riding 
at a rapid pace along the boulevards toward the Assemibly, and 
shouting, as he proceeded, " Tout va Men.'' Foreseeing that he 
was about to make a communication to the Assembly, I made 
lay way thither, and arrived before he had ascended the tribune. 
He stated that, upon all points, the insurrection was losing 
ground ; that a quantity of arms, 5000 or 6000 stand, had 
been detained. That the National Guard were then establish- 
ing communications from house to house, by which they were 
enabled to turn the barricades and fire down upon their defend- 
ers. The military corps of engineers and sapeurs-pompiers were 



THE NATIONAL GUARI>. 221 

now engaged in that useful work. Reinforcements of National 
Guards were arriving from the environs : so far so good ; but as 
he proceeded to say that the National Guard of Paris had recov- 
ered from the stupor into which they had been thrown, and were 
acting with accustomed energy, a loud expression of dissatisfaction 
was manifested, and several voices exclaimed that the conduct of 
the National Guard had all along been admirable. He explained 
by saying that the National Guard had not assembled in the first 
instance with their usual readiness. The Minister of Finance did 
not improve the matter by saying that, on both sides, they had 
fought with too much courage. This excited loud cries of order. 
One member declared that the National Guard fighting against 
the insurrection, meant gallantry confronting assassination ; and 
he stated that what the minister said was blasphemy. On which 
the whole Assembly rose as by one accord, and cried " Vive La 
Garde Nationale .'" The Minister attempted to explain, amidst 
much excitement, which began to be manifested. M. de la Roche- 
jacquelin essayed to make a strong appeal in favor of mercy to 
the vanquished ; but it was treated as unnecessary and uncalled 
for, inasmuch as the merciful disposition of the Assembly could 
not be doubted. The sitting was again suspended until a little 
before five o'clock, at which time reports more satisfactory than an.y 
which had had been previously received, were presented. A report 
from M. Marrast announced that the Mairie of the ninth Arron- 
dissement, in which the H6tel-de-Ville is situated, had been taken 
from the insurgents, as well as the formidable barricade erected 
in the adjoining street. " I can not," he adds, "give you long 
details, but you may judge for yourselves, by the fact that the 
long, narrow streets leading from the H6tel-de-Ville into the Rue 
St. Antoine were all barricaded, and the windows of the houses 
filled with matresses, from behind which they fired : our losses 
have, therefore, been cruel." He went on to say that each house 
had been turned into a fortress, while communications from house 
to house had been opened, so that the whole neighborhood was, 
as it were, one vast fortress. The troops were then mai'ching 
toward the Place des Vosges, to retake the Mairie of the eighth 
Arrondissement. By a second report, M. Marrast announced 



222 REPORTS TO THE ASSEMBLY. 

that, by the destruction of a barricade which had to that moment 
resisted all efforts, the bridge Damiette, connecting the quay with 
the Isle St. Louis, was occupied at both ends. All was proceed- 
ing to a happy conclusion ; but, alas ! he added, " our hospitals, 
our ambulances are crowded, and never have the streets of Paris 
been so reddened with blood." Having read these reports, and 
the latter sentence with a faltering voice, M. Senard presented a 
report which announced that the Clos St. Lazare was at length 
completely occupied by the troops and National Guards. On the 
left bank there was resistance here and there, but nothing of con- 
sequence. A report of another character had been received from 
a representative to the effect that, as the idea prevailed among 
the insurgents that no quarter would be given, it would be well 
to remove an impression that tended to prolong resistance. In 
consequence of this report, a proclamation was presented, signed 
by General Cavaignac and M. Senard, by which the working 
people in insurrection were invited to come as penitent brothers, 
and the arms of the Republic would be open to receive them. 

A report from the Prefect of Police, dated half-past four o'clock, 
was received, announcing that the barricade of the Rue St. An- 
toine had been taken, but that the resistance was continued in 
the Fauborg du Temple, where General Lamoriciere commanded. 
The sitting was again suspended. After these reports, it was 
fairly to be presumed that the struggle was approaching a termi- 
nation ; yet I can vouch that the m.ilitary men who were per- 
sonally witnessing the combat at different places, were far from 
expecting a prompt suppression of the insurrection. However, 
the mind was relieved by such statements. 

Repassing the bridge upon that sad evening, it was impossible 
not to be struck with the extraordinary aspect of the Place de la 
Concorde, and of the approaches to the Assembly. On the quays 
the soldiers had themselves thrown up barricades, through which 
cannon were pointed ; for the forces about the Assembly had 
been considerably weakened by the troops that the Questeur 
General Negrier had drawn off when setting forth on his suc- 
cessful, but, to himself fatal, expedition. A discovery had, more- 
over, been made of a project for raising barricades in a sort of 



PLACE DE LA CONCORDE— LOUIS BLANC. 223 



village that stands between the Assembly and the military school 
of the Champ de Mars, where there was a depot of artillery, in or- 
der to intercept the communication ; and a coup-de-main would 
probably be attempted against the representatives of the people. 

The Place de la Concorde presented such an aspect as might 
have been expected if Paris had been in the hands of an enemy. 
A regiment of dragoons, stripped to their shirts, were grooming 
their horses, and out of the basins of the magnificent fountains 
horses were drinking. The Champs Elysees was a bivouac ; 
and the trodden, filthy straw — the mixture of the stable-yard 
with the unrivaled splendor of the square, the hushed voice of 
the city, the reports of fire-arms faintly heard in the distance, the 
sight of imjforms, the absence of all faces from the windows, 
created a scene, the impression of which can never be forgotten. 

Proceeding to a restaurant for dinner, I found myself in close 
neighborhood with Louis Blanc, and I confess that I felt my 
attention riveted to him. That he was deeply compromised in 
this terrible Communist insurrection was, at least, generally sus- 
pected ; that his doctrines and his intrigues had much to do with 
it, no one doubted ; that he fully sympathized with the insurrec- 
tion was undeniable. How far guilty or innocent, it was at 
least certain that, standing in the position he did, it required 
some hardihood on his part to sit down surrounded by National 
Guards, whose comrades were lying wounded and dying in all 
directions, and make a hearty dinner, not without a fair share 
of good wine. The deep, concentrated look which he gave from 
time to time out of doors, when any thing attracted attention, 
might not have been easily interpreted ; but the absence of sym- 
pathy with the defenders of order was marked enough. 

After dinner he proceeded with his companion up the Boule- 
vards, for the red ribbon of the representative at his button-hole 
secured free egress. A little while after, a cabriolet was seen 
approaching at a violent pace under the protection of a military 
officer : it bore Louis Blanc, who, having been recognized, was 
menaced with ill-usage by the National Guards. He contrived 
to escape their hands, and the officer was protecting him in his 
flight to tne Assembly. As he passed the post of National 



224 CHAKBONNEL MORTALLY WOUNDED— THE ASSExMBLY 



Guards at the Foreign Office, the men ran after the cabriolet 
and stopped it : some considerable delay followed, and the cab- 
riolet was allowed to proceed ; but a shot was fired after it. 
This caused much sensation, which soon abated. The sensation 
among the National Guards, who did not witness the occurrence, 
was the greater, as the report prevailed among them that per- 
sons were to take up their station at windows in the neighbor- 
hood, and by shooting down the men, create a panic, in order at 
once to gratify hatred, and favor the designs of the insurgents. 
At a later hour I saw Colonel Charbonnel carried by on a 
civiere : he was mortally wounded ; but his face presented that 
sublime calm which distinguishes the effect of the gunshot- wound 
from that of the bayonet. All the posts turned out, and pre- 
sented arms to the heroic victim. 

The suspended sitting of the Assembly was resumed at nine 
o'clock, when the President presented the reports that had reach- 
ed him. He had at that moment received the intelligence, 
which had been so impatiently looked for, of the junction, at 
the Place de la Bastile, of the troops that had marched from 
the Hotel-de-Ville with those of General Lamoriciere. The in- 
surrection was accordingly confined to the Faubourg St. Antoine. 
Some struggles would still be vainly attempted at one barrier or 
another. As desperate an effort was making at Montmartre, as 
had been made at the barrier of Fontainbleau ; but Paris would 
nevertheless soon be completely delivered. He then announced 
that General Negrier, whose hand he had pressed that morning, 
was dead, and Colonel Charbonnel wounded. Their colleague 
Domes was in a dangerous state. It became their duty, then, 
to provide for the trial of the insurgents, with whom the prisons 
were filled ; and, on the motion of the President, a decree was 
passed that any person taken with arms in his hands should be 
transported beyond the seas. A question was asked regarding 
General Brea, to which the President replied that he was not 
in a position to give a satisfactory answer. The estafettes that 
had been dispatched had returned without being able to procure 
exact details. The Assembly then adjourned to the following 
morning, amidst profound emotion. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE INSURRECTION, FOURTH DAY, JUNE 26th THE ASSEMBLY 

TERMINATION OF THE STRUGGLE. 

An acquaintance who resides at the Place de la Bastile told me 
that the night of Sunday there was most lugubrious. Throughout 
the day, the cannon, approaching nearer and nearer from the Hotel- 
de-Ville, marked the success attending the operations of the troops ; 
for it was only by the ear that a notion could be formed of what 
was passing out of doors. When all was comparatively still at 
night, an extraordinary conflagration excited attention. The in- 
surgents, having formed a barricade composed of wood, taken 
from a wood-yard, across one of the lateral streets, from some 
motive or other set fire to it, and the strange effect of this barri- 
cade on fire at midnight had something in it mysterious, from its 
very novelty, and the vague feeling of wonder and apprehension 
it occasioned. The whole Place de la Bastile was lighted up 
by the conflagration, with its army ready to repeat this act of 
destruction on still more valuable property. 

The President of the Assembly was, at the early hour of be- 
tween two and three o'clock in the morning, surprised by a strange 
visit. Four delegates from the Faubourg St. Antoine, with Col- 
onel Larabit, presented themselves. The Colonel and another 
representative, M. Druet Desvaux. M^hose names have already 
been introduced in connection with that of M. Cazalat, who 
forced his way, with the decree according the three millions, into 
the faubouro-. These two gentlemen had accompanied the Arch- 
bishop when he feli, and the three being brought together, en- 
deavored by reasoning and remonstrance to induce the insurgents 
to make their submission. It was from the statements of these 
gentlemen that the insurgents learned for the first time the true 
state of things. Their leaders, in order to keep up their resolu- 
tion, represented their friends to be victorious on all sides. They 
learned from the three representatives, their prisoners, that the 



226 DELEGATION FROM THE INSURGENTS. 

Assembly was sitting en permanence, that martial law was pro- 
claimed, subjecting all persons taken with arms to the risk of 
being shot, and that the faubourg was now isolated, and would 
immediately be invested. So little frightened, however, did the 
insurgents appear to be, that they commanded their prisoners, 
under pain of death, to sign a declaration for transmission to the 
National Assembly, containing four conditions : that the Assem- 
bly should be dissolved ; the army removed forty leagues from 
Paris ; the prisoners Barbes, &c. at Vincennes, restored to lib- 
erty ; and that the people should themselves make their Consti- 
tution. Colonel Larabit declared firmly that he would sign no 
such declaration. After a warm discussion, a fresh declaration 
was drawn up, which stipulated that the insurgents should not 
be deprived of their rights as citizens ; and this the three repre- 
sentatives having signed, a delegation was named to accompany 
Colonel Larabit to the Assembly, who, on his part, engaged to 
return in case the declaration should not be accepted. M. Se- 
nard received the deputation, and entering into conversation with 
them of a general character, was surprised to hear the extraordi- 
nary notions that they entertained of public affairs. " Where 
could you have got such extravagant ideas ?" asked M. Senard, 
in wonder ; and he found that they derived their errors from the 
one sou journals that were distributed through the faubourgs ; 
these papers were of the grossest and basest character. Coming, 
however, to the immediate subject of the negotiation, M. Senard 
having consulted General Cavaignac, and having been shown by 
the General that any negotiation at that moment could only tend 
to embarrass the military ope-rations, the success of which had 
become matter of certainty — felt constrained to refuse to treat 
with the delegation, whom he urged to recommend their com- 
panions to make an unconditional surrendei. Colonel Larabit, 
like a man of honor, kept his word with the delegates, and, not- 
withstanding the failure of the negotiation, returned along with 
them. 

The Assembly met at half-past eight o'clock, when M. Senard 
recounted the m.eeting he had had with the deputation, and the 
answer he had been authorized to make by General Cj.vaignac, 



THE PRISONERS AT VINCBNNES. 227 

that nothing would be accepted short of unconditional submission : 
they had, however, given the insurgents till ten o'clock to sur- 
render. He then proceeded to announce certain measures taken 
by Goverrunent for the sake of public security. Such National 
Guards as had not answered the rai:>'pel should be disarmed, the 
Clubs of a dangerous character closed, and such journals as 
preached civil war, suppressed. He also announced the form- 
ation of a committee of inquiry into the plot of the 1 5th of May, 
as well as the present insurrection, in order to elicit their con- 
nection. After these communications the members retired into 
their respective comjnittee-rooms. 

Let us turn for a moment to a place of whio-h we have said 
little — the Chateau of Vincennes. Here were confined the real 
leaders of the insurrection — the men, whose heutenants were 
acting vigorously in their name, and who, if carried in triumph 
to the seat of , Government, would have formed the first social 
and democratic administration. It is told that on the morning 
when the insurrection broke out, and before what was passing in 
Paris was known, unusual animation was observed among the 
prisoners. M. Blanqui attired himself iii his best, and with his 
usual cynical audacity told his keeper with a sardonic smile that 
h'J expected a visit from his friends, whom he was dressed to 
receive. The more impetuous Barbes called on the governor to 
allow him to depart, telHng him that if he complied with his 
request the most signal rewards awaited him under the new 
Government, and that if he did not, he must expect to be shot. 
Neither the promise nor the menace produced any other effect 
than an intimation that an effort to escape would be the signal 
for a summary execution. It was known at Vincennes that the 
insurgents had been given till ten o'clock to surrender, and I am 
assured that the anxiety with which all in that fortress, state- 
prison, and depot of artillery, watched the time, was most intense. 
The hour came, and immediately the ears of the military men 
recognized the deep boom of the cannon. The faubourg was 
attacked. 

As soon as the signal was given, the soldiery ordered to attack 
from the Place de la Bastile, rushed on with such impetuosity, 



228 THE FINAL ATTACK. 

that they immediately cleared three successive barricades, and 
the insurgents pretended to surrender : but as soon as they had 
checked the movements of the troops they treacherously renewed 
their fire ; the attack was revived, and the insurgents fled in all 
directions. The report of the false surrender had been brought 
to General Lamoriciere as he was proceeding against the flank 
of the faubourg. The interference of certain representatives 
caused him to lose some advantages and some men. An imme- 
diate surrender took place, however ; but it was not a surrender 
of a general character : the great mass of the insurgents took 
flight, and for hours the cavalry were engaged in bringing them 
back prisoners. I was on the boulevards some time about noon, 
when an officer stopped at a post of National Guards and de- 
claimed vehemently against the conduct of the representatives 
of the people, who, by their interference, were doing much 
harm. He said it was untrue that the insurgents had surren- 
dered ; that they had affected to do so in order to draw the 
troops within the streets, that they might, while off their guard, 
be destroyed ; and he declared that General Lamoriciere had 
sustained within the previous hour very serious losses, owing to 
such false reports, and imprudent interference of members of the 
Assembly. He recommended the Kational Guards not to allow 
even representatives to pass them. There was so much grief 
and indignation in the tone of this officer's voice, who was 
probably himself to a certain degree mistaken, that he deeply 
affected his hearers with his own sentiments : they took his 
hand and pressed it, patted his horse and kissed it, and mani- 
fested very deep emotion. We have seen how heroically some 
members acted — with what eagerness they endeavoured to 
spread the decree of the Assembly in favor of the working peo- 
ple — how freely they shared the dangers of the troops. But 
there were exceptions ; there were members who paralyzed the 
actions of the National Guards, by calling on them with maud- 
lin compassion, if not calculated treachery, not to fire on their 
brethren, and we can testify to the complaints made by General 
Lamoriciere, and the officer whose words were heard by the 
writer. 



INSURRECTION SUPPRESSED— CAVAIGNAC'S NOTE. 229 

Between eleven and twelve o'clock M. Senard rushed into the 
Assembly, mounted to his seat, and exclaiming " the Faubourg St. 
Antoine has surrendered at discretion," desired the members to be 
summoned. He said he was enabled to make the statement on 
the assurance of an aid-de-camp, who had seen three battalions 
enter without resistance. Some doubts were expressed, and the 
sitting was suspended, the President engaging to convoke mem- 
bers as soon as he should receive decisive information. 

At half-past one o'clock the President, mounting to his seat, 
rang his bell as loudly as possible, and as the members flocked 
in, he announced that all was over. After this general state- 
ment he assured them that Colonel Larabit had been freed, and 
the other two of their colleagues were in safety. Captain 
Adelswordt threw some doubts on the surrender, grounded on 
what he had heard from General Lamoriciere, and he proceeded 
to repeat that which I had just before heard from the lips of 
the officer on the boulevard — in fact, it was the same person. 
There yet remained some doubt ; but it was soon put an end to 
by the entry of M. Corban, Vice-President, with the following 
note from General Cavaignac : — 

" Citizen President, 

" Thanks to the attitude of the National Assembly,' thanks 
to the devotedness of the National Guards and the army, the 
revolt is subdued — there is no more strife in Paris. As soon as 
I am certain that the powers conferred on me are no longer 
necesssary to the safety of the Republic I will remit them 
respectfully into the hands of the National Assembly. 

" Ge:^eral Cavaignac." 

There was a burst of acclamation, with repeated cries of 
" Vive General Cavaignac,'' and the Assembly separated. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

^ PARIS AFTER THE BATTLE. 

The physiognomy of Paris, for some days after the close of 
this fearful struggle, was very curious to the eye of the stranger. 
In the course of the evening of Monday, the interdiction against 
the circulation of people in colored clothes was considerably 
relaxed, but not altogether removed. Some of the National 
Guards on duty were more strict than others, and people would 
be recommended, at all events, not to tarry, but to return home. 
The cafes began to open that same evening, and were filled by 
those on whom restraint had operated so disagreeably to the 
derangement of routine habits. There were some enterprising 
spirits who made their way even to the Rue St. Antoine, which 
was filled with prisoners — men who had surrendered on the spot, 
or had been led back captive from the environs. They looked 
dejected and haggard, as might have been expected after a col- 
lapse from over-strained excitement. No pen could describe the 
appearance of ruin, filth, misery, and confusion, that prevailed. 
The rapidity with which so much of the evidences of battle, as 
consisted in the leveling of barricades, and the repaving of the 
streets was removed, was somewhat surprising. 

In a day or two, one part of Paris, that which had escaped, 
was engaged tranquilly visiting the other. The visitor's way lay 
along the boulevards. From the front of the Ambigu Coniique, 
to the last of that multiplied succession of theaters which termin- 
ates with Delassemens Comiques, or the lugubrious Gaite, there 
is a deep semicircular bend, forming a space, a portion of which 
is devoted to a Marche aux Fleurs. All this had been converted 
into a very picturesque bivouac, being filled with conical white 
tents. A park of artillery reposed there. The Theatre Historique 
was an ambulance. Higher up, the horses of a regiment of dra- 
goons were stabled on the trottoirs. The Place de la Bastile 



PARIS AFTER THE BATTLE. 231 

was the chief object of attraction. It had been the great basin 
into which the battle — foaming and raging from the Barriers of 
Poissonniere and Rochechouart to Popincourt — from the Hotel- 
de-Ville, up through the Rue St. Antoine — along the quays — 
and from the left side over fiercely-contested bridges — came meet- 
ing in that vast surge that was next to precipitate itself into the 
contumacious faubourg. Already had it beaten against the first 
opposing obstacles, and terrible were the traces it had left. The 
mortars and guns had described a half circle, taking in the four 
avenues comprised between the canal and the Rue de Charonne, 
of which the intermediate two were the Rue de la Roquette and 
the Rue St. Antoine. A house at the corner of the Rue de la 
Roquette had been entirely destroyed from top to bottom — all 
that escaped were a lookmg-glass and two small engravings, frail 
curiosities surviving sad ruin. The left side of the faubourg 
was, for a hundred yards or so, very much battered. A house 
of business, called La Belle Sardiniere, looked as if it had stood 
as a mark for cannon, so perforated was it. A wine-shop close 
to it being open, presented a mirror with a cannon shot cleanly 
cut through it. A narrow house separating the faubourg from 
the Rue de Charonne, was riddled with shot. A little way up 
the faubourg there was no trace of combat, for none had taken 
place, with the exception of an episode that occurred on the first 
day at the corner of the Rue de Reuilly, some half way upon 
the right side. Here was a barrack in course of construction, 
only one wing of which was then complete ; and in this wing 
there was a small detachment of about 200 infantry. The 
insurgents summoned them to surrender, but the gallant band 
refused. The former, then occupying a small, low brew-house 
opposite, and the unfinished portion of the barrack, kept up a 
warm fire, while a party covered by a small house close by the 
side of the occupied wing, attempted to set fire to it. After 
some hours' exertions, the soldiers hit upon a plan of communi- 
cating their situation to the garrison at Vincennes. They dressed 
one of their own men in a blouse, who, making his way out, 
afiected to stop and take aim in an audacious manner at the 
soldiers ; on which the latter pretended to mark him out for 



232 PARIS AFTER THE BATTLE. 

their fire, so as to cover his escape, which he made good, 
and brought his comrades the necessary succor. Higher up, 
near to the Barriere du Trone, is the Rue de Picpus, well known 
to the Americans who visit Paris, because attached to a convent 
in this street is a small cemetery, containing, among those of other 
distinguished personages, the remains of Lafayette. 

At the corner of the street in the faubourg is a stately man- 
sion, with a fine park, rich in the grand ornament of large breezy 
trees, inclosed by a wall. This mansion was a ladies' boarding- 
school. Opposite was the street through which a portion of the 
forces of Lamoriciere were expected ; and it was said that the 
insurgents had threatened to place the young ladies on the bar- 
ricade, as a sure means of preventing the soldiers from firing. 
This rumor had the effect of clearing all the female schools of 
Paris for some time of their inmates. It m.ust be acknowledged 
that the inhabitants of the faubourg showed few signs of having 
escaped great perils, for business was going on as usual. While 
the soldiers were busily searching for arms, the walls here and 
there were marked with inscriptions in chalk of " Mort aux Vo- 
leurs^ Descending the faubourg, the usual course of the curious 
lay through the Rue St. Antoine to the quay, and up through 
the Faubourg St. Jacques to the Pantheon. The houses at all 
the corners of streets showed most marks of balls ; and it may 
not be out of place to notice, that at many corners there were 
wine-shops, in which the insurgents, having first imbibed the 
necessary stimulus of drink and conversation, turned their famil- 
iar place of meeting into a fortress for the defense of illicit opinions. 

On entering the Rue St. Antoine, on the right, the eye follow- 
ing a short street, is attracted to a passage under a singular, old- 
fashioned red-brick house, into a square, a most quaint relic of 
old times. It used to be called the Place Royale, but the name 
is now changed to that of the Place des Vosges. This neighbor- 
hood was in olden days the fashionable quarter — the seat of the 
nobility and Court. In the center there is a statue to Louis 
XIII. The old red-brick houses, of the style and shape of some 
of the buildings of the Chateau of Fontainbleau, have underneath 
an arcade. To return to the entrance from the Rue St. Antoine 



PARIS AFTER THE BATTLE. 233 

the visitor finds himself under the house of the celebrated Victor 
Hugo ; and one of the first acts of the insurgents was to seize 
his house (to the alarm of his wife and family, who had to fly), 
in order that they, the insurgents, might attack with more effect 
the adjoining military post, defending the Mairie of the ninth 
Arrondissement. They succeeded. The soldiers were obliged 
to capitulate, as indeed most other parties must have done, if 
disseminated as the mihtary mentors of General Cavaignac pro- 
posed. If those who, instead of following the Rue St. Antoine, 
had descended toward the quays by the Rue du Temple, they 
would have seen every where the houses marked with balls, 
especially at the corners of the streets. The Church of St. 
Gervais, behind the H6tel-de-Ville, would first stop the visitor 
going over the battle-ground, in order that he might see its shat- 
tered gates. The next point of interest would be the extreme 
west end of the hospital, the Hotel Dieu, in which the insurgents 
threw themselves, in order to cover the bridge. Proceeding 
onward, and before ascending the Rue St. Jacques, the visitor 
would turn a little to the right to enter the Church of St. Severin, 
the old Church of the Jansenists, and the Port-Royalists, into 
which hundreds of National Guards were taken dead. At the 
other end of the same street he would see the Place Maubert, 
with its burnt-down military post, and houses all about marked 
with balls. Instead of going up the precipitous Rue de la Mon- 
tague Genevieve, he would retrace his steps, and ascend the 
Faubourg St. Jacques — that narrow, steep street, that must 
have blazed with musketry by the signs visible — until he came 
in front of the Pantheon. This beautiful building — which 
crowns the height of that classic pays latin, the top of that 
ascent from Notre Dame, through whose sacred way of churches 
and colleges Abelard threaded his path, when the dawn of learn- 
ing began to struggle with the night of superstition — this beauti- 
ful building was defaced by the marks of balls and shot. Large 
pieces had been rent from its fluted columns, its bronze doors 
had been beaten in, and some rude temporary patchwork filled 
up the doorway of the temple. 

I recollect that my last visit to the Pantheon had taken place 



34 PARIS AFTER THE BATTLE. 

the preceding month of October. Copies of the most famous 
pictures of Michael Angelo and Raphael had been brought from. 
Rome by two brothers of the name of Baze, pupils of Ingres, 
and their ten years' devoted love-labor weie allowed to be ex- 
hibited in the ci-devant church. 

It so happened that on the day of my visit, the Royal family 
of France entered without pomp or ceremony, and within a few 
feet of where I stood, were the Queen of the French leaning on 
her son, the Due de Montpensier, followed by the Duchess of 
Orleans, the Queen of the Belgians, and the Duchess of Mont- 
pensier. There was a large assemblage of people, by whom the 
illustrious visitors were recognized ; and the deference and atten- 
tion with which the royal party were treated gave little warning 
of the hurricane of popular rage before which they had to fly 
in only four months afterward. The Due de Montpensier took 
great care to point out to his mother the beauties of the works 
of Raphael, at which the royal lady expressed her admiration. 
The Duchess of Orleans showed the most animated interest of 
the whole party, questioning the Bazes at each moment, and 
manifesting by her manner the desire to improve this opportunity 
of acquiring information, by carrying away such full impressions 
as a lover of art desires to hoard up in the memory, furnishing 
the mind, as it were, with a decorative gallery of inappreciable 
value. This power of hoarding artistic wealth is happily in the 
reach of many who can not buy, and is not given to all who can. 
The Queen of the Belgians looked shy and embarrassed. The 
Duchess of Montpensier had the air of an amused and somewhat 
astonished child. 

Behind the Pantheon is the exquisitely beautiful old church 
of St. Etienne du Mont with its fantastic gallery screening the 
altar. The pious visit it for the sake of the tomb of St. Gene- 
vieve ; the pious and the learned for the sake of the little black 
slab in the wall, marking the resting-place of the immortal Pascal 
— that greatest of great men. There were some marks of mus- 
ket-balls within this church. The Clos St. Lazare, on the right 
bank, was also a source of attraction to the curious. 

While visiting these points, there were other signs of the late 



PARIS AFTER THE BATTLE. 235 

struggle more touching and affecting. Many large shops had 
been temporarily hired for ambulances, and before each was 
placed a box for receiving subscriptions. They were generally 
well suppHed with copper coin. At many doorways children 
were busy making lint, and the great number of shops that re- 
mained shut marked that within there lay a victim. Carts 
laden with arms that had been seized — civieres bearing wound- 
ed men to hospitals — funerals in all directions for some days, 
filled up the supplementary details of what had taken place. 
Then came, as a finale, the less affecting scene of a public cere- 
mony in the Place de la Concorde. To the cavalry and bivouac 
succeeded a temporary lofty altar, and a huge, unwieldy funeral 
car, with representative victims. Perhaps French tastes de- 
manded a sight and a show ; but the eye and the heart found 
real sorrows, sympathies, and reflections in the streets. While 
the public, generally speaking, visited the points which have 
been mentioned, there were neighborhoods into which a strange 
foot was hardly placed, and which, if visited, would have told a 
tale of another kind. 

To any reflecting person, who would take the trouble of ex- 
ploring all the ground occupied by the insurgents, the immense 
extent of the poor and miserable population of Paris would 
cause surprise and pain, not unmingled with apprehension for 
the future It is curious, that the most miserable streets were 
precisely those which had most barricades. The Rue Grange 
aux Belles is a long, straggling, miserable street, at which you 
arrive by turning up from the Theatre de I'Ambigu on the Bou- 
levard du Temple : in this street were the greatest number of 
barricades of any on the right bank. In fact, the boulevards 
from the Porte St. Martin to the Bastile run through neighbor- 
hoods filled with populous misery ; but the misery on the fau- 
bourg is greater than that on the city side. Between the Rue 
Grange aux Belles and the Faubourg St. Antoine is a mass of 
filth and wretchedness. And on the other side of the river, 
wretched as is the Rue Montague Genevieve — which had the 
greatest number of barricades of any on the left — it is yet but 
the advanced hne of a miserable neighborhood, generally known 



236 PARIS AFTER THE BATTLE. 

l>y the old name of the Faubourg St. Marceau. From behind 
the Pantheon to the Barrier of Fontainbleau, where General de 
Brea was murdered, there could not be found in any city a more 
repulsive place than ihe long Rue Mouffetard, with its 330 
houses. The murder that took place there may be taken as a 
proof of the savage character of its inhabitants, who, unless in 
their peregrinations into the better parts of the city in hunt of 
rags, bones, and the sweepings of houses — for the Rue Mouffet- 
ard is the residence of the Chiffonniers de Paris — ^must rarely 
see a broad-cloth coat, never a private carriage or cabriolet, ex- 
cept at the further end, where the street is passed by visitors to 
the Gobelins. It is probably a mark of the ignorance of the 
inhabitants, that while the names of streets called after the 
royal family were in the fashionable quarters ignominiously taken 
down, the title of the Rue d' Orleans still stands at the corner 
of a part of this, the worst neighborhood of all. The name, 
too, is nailed against the antique little church of St. Medard, 
in which the poor children are perseveringly instructed by the 
clergy, as the writer of this description can testify. Now, al- 
though the Faubourg St. Antoine is looked on as the classic 
ground of insurrection, it is not poor, and does not present an 
aspect of poverty. There are in this faubourg some 20,000 
workmen, chiefly cabinet-makers ; and their discontent at the 
period of this outbreak receives explanation from the fact that 
there were only some 300 having employment. 

Having examined the vast quarters of Paris, not only within 
but without the barrier walls, I came to this serious conclusion 
— that the more a city enlarges in size- — I shall not say pro- 
gresses in wealth — the greater becomes the growth of misery. 
Those who have considered the aspect of modern cities must have 
remarked that the tendency is to removal to new quarters, to the 
desertion of the old ; and each desertion must, as a matter of 
course, leave behind many poor, thenceforward to be deprived of 
the advantages that were afforded by the residence of the wealthy. 
For instance, the old square called the Place Roy ale, close to 
the Rue St. Antoine, was once the neighborhood of the Court ; 
and the Rue St. Antoine, as well as the streets between it and 



POVERTY IN GREAT CITIES. 237 

the Arsenal on the quay, bear evidence of former opulence. The 
descendants of wealthy classes that dwelt here of old, are now, 
probably, to be found in the comparatively modern quarter of the 
Faubourg St. Germain. 

We can suppose, without much stretch of imagination, that 
the shopkeepers, traders, and manufacturers, created by the 
neighborhood of rich houses, would decay as the wealthy emi- 
grated. The working classes do not move away so fast as the 
rich ; and in time it would happen that much poverty would 
mark the deserted quarter. It might happen that merchants 
would succeed to the spacious mansions of the aristocracy, and 
that such commodious houses would be made commercial marts 
and factories, and so save the poorer classes from suffering ; but 
should this nt)t take place, the consequences need not be further 
pointed out. Yet allowing this to happen, we find a similar 
spirit of emigration to influence even the commercial classes ; and 
the new financial quarter, as it is called, of the Chaussee d'Antin, 
is to the trading community that which the Faubourg St. Ger- 
main is to the aristocratic. As it was about the court, and the 
cathedrals, convents, colleges, and even palaces of nobles, that the 
different quarters of a city sprung up, the same rule holds good 
to the present day. 

The palace of the Luxembourg, built by Marie de Medicis, 
probably laid the foundation of the Faubourg St. Germain. The 
debarcadere of the Rouen Railway, eriscted in the poor Rue St. 
Lazare, has caused a new town to grow up around it. But as 
the town advances, it must be to the increasing of poverty and 
of the poorer classes in the parts deserted. It is about Notre 
Dame, St. Genevieve, and the sites of the old churches — the 
seats of the once venerated religion, now fallen into decay — that 
we find the great masses of poverty. 

The universities have held their ground, and about the neigh- 
borhood of the Sorbonne we find those quiet, antiquated printing- 
houses and book establishments, in which the student may retire 
undisturbed, under the consecrated influence of the tranquil izing 
genius lod. 

As streets become deserted, and the prices of houses fall, more 



238 MATERIALISM. 



poor will flock in to swell the poor already there ; and thus it 
would appear that, as there are ever actively working causes, to 
produce emigration of the wealthy classes from the old to the 
new portions of cities, so must that emigration leave behind it 
vast accumulations of poverty. To these causes must be added 
the occasional paralysis of a special manufacture that had taken 
its seat in some particular quarter, or its being superseded by 
some new invention. Hence there follows from this combination 
of causes, as from the growth of a disease lodged in the system, 
a great danger for such a city as Paris. The greatest danger is 
not, after all, in physical misery. Gloomy as it is in itself, its 
aspect is most fearful when exhibited in the twilight of perverted 
education, without any glow of religious feeling. It would be 
taking a false view of humanity, to say that there was no good 
to be found in this class or that class. If there were no good, 
there would be no hope, and the work of improvement need not 
be undertaken. There is, happily, no such excuse for indiffer- 
ence or selfishness. The evil must, however, be looked steadily 
in the face. There is the master evil of poverty and suffering 
unsustained and uncheered by religion. In the absence of reli- 
gion, there miust needs be a brutalizing and ferocious materialism. 
This materialism, which has descended into the lower orders, 
pervades those examples before their eyes, which influence their 
raiodes of thought. The excessive luxury indulged in by the 
classes above the poor insults their poverty and whets their pas- 
sions. It was on this account, chiefly, that the exposures of 
corrupt conduct in the upper classes, and the detection of the 
corrupt system of the government did precipitate the revolution of 
February, and help to determine its Socialist character. If an 
epicurean self-indulgence seizes the better classes, if that indul- 
gence becomes the main business of life, if it must be had on 
any terms and at any sacrifice of virtue and honor, depend upon 
it, the neglected, ill-taught, and aggravated poor will put in their 
hands for a share of the spoils of life. It is in this way that 
corrupted civilization may be regarded as the sure forerunner of 
national decay. 

The sort of education picked up by the Parisian populace is 



INFLUENCE OF THEATERS. 239 



of a very dangerous kind. It is derived from public sights, from 
the theaters, and from those romances which run through the 
newspaper feuilleton. The pubhc aspect of Paris would of itself 
save a populace from gross ignorance. There is hardly a public 
fountain which is not a splendid work of art. The poor boy who 
fills Ms pail of water at the fountain which marks the house 
where Moliere was born may, on the scrolls of marble unfolded 
before his eyes, master the names and dates of all the works of 
this French Shakspeare of comedy. With the fancy so much 
excited, and the artistical taste so stimulated, it ceases to stir the 
wonder of the stranger that he should see the comynissionnaire, 
who passes his day between blacking shoes and carrying loads or 
messages, filling up the intervals of time, not devoted to card- 
playing in the open air, with a play or a romance. The thea- 
ters are to the populace almost a necessary of life, and, as usual, 
the deeper the tragedy and the broader the farce, the more pop- 
ular the character of the theater. Whatever happens to be the 
cant of the moment finds its embodiment in the theater. Thus, 
after 1830, it became the cant to laud the heroism of that wick- 
ed little urchin in blouse, known by the name of the Gamin de 
Faris, ; so this precious scamp, stuffed with virtues like a fowl 
with truffles, in the hands of the incomparable Bouffe, set the 
town shouting with ecstasy, or melting into tears, as long as it 
was the mode to canonize this specimen of city breeding. After 
February several pieces were produced with the object of showing 
the heroic disinterestedness that characterized, the sovereign peo- 
ple. The grisette sacrificed the passion that was consuming her 
heart, because a beloved companion was dying for the same ob- 
ject ; and the relief afforded to suffering want by those on want's 
brink, so stealthily as to baffle all inquiry as to its source, pre- 
sented the sublime virtues of the poor in melancholy contrast 
with the rich. 

This was very well, until M. Proudhon had pronounced all 
property robbery, and the theaters showed empty boxes, from 
the growing poverty of the trading classes ; then M. Proudhon 
was himself caught and exhibited alive, and the hitherto maligned 
bourgeois robed in the sober virtues of the middle class. 



$m THE FEUILLETON—FALSE TEACHING. 

Previous to the revolution of February, the materialism that 
pervaded all classes of society spread over the current literature 
of the day, and from literature mounted the stage. A spurious 
philosophy had sprung up, of v^^hich Fourrier, Leroux, Consid- 
erant, and Proudhon, were the professors, and which George 
Sand and Eugene Sue undertook to make pass current through 
the all-read, all-devouved feuilleton of the newspapers. It is a 
remarkable instance either of carelessness in the leading journals 
of conservative politics, or their blmdness to the danger that was 
lurking in those productions, that such papers as the Debats, the 
Fresse, and the Constitutionnel, made their columns the means 
of communicating the most demorahzing doctrines, rendered very 
alluring by novel and vivid illustrations. Their subscribers were 
caught by the stimulating charm of highly-wrought scenes of 
sensual gratification and tragical adventure, which, while they 
roused their languid sensations, supplied them with a sort of 
mystical, material axioms and false sentiment that passed for pro- 
fundity and feeling. But that which was mere indulgence to 
persons in easy circumstances, neutralized by other indulgences 
which it served to vary, was terrible reality to other classes. It 
was not only reality to the poor girl who devoured the romance 
in private, or read it aloud to a family all ears, but it was reality 
to that shabby-genteel class of adventurers who, from all parts of 
France and other countries, fly to Paris, full of ambitious pros- 
pects, deeply versed in the history of the revolution, panting to 
imitate the Robespierres and St. Justs, and with whose views the 
new materialism chimes completely. 

When we look, therefore, at a huge population, taught through 
their senses, their fancies, their imaginations, but never through 
their judgment — believing the rich to live for sensuality, and the 
Government to exist by corruption, thrown first into the fever of 
a revolution, and then, because disappointed, believing they were 
betrayed ; when we see this population receiving for apostles 
adventurers who teach community of goods as the remedy for 
poverty, and open vistas of Mohammedan joys to a sensual and 
imaginative club of hearers — we fear that it is not given to any 
of us to disregard opinions because they are absurd. We must 



CRUELTIES OF THE LXSURGENTS. 241 

go a little into this matter, and look at the nature of man. He 
loves excitement. But what is that love of excitement, but a 
natural desire planted in him by a wise Providence to enjoy the 
full exercise of all his faculties of body and soul ? The highest 
and most harmonious activity of body and soul is that produced 
by religion, which, while it elevates the soul to devotion, impels 
to acts of charity and benevolence, and noble self-denial. Take 
away this high excitement, and what is the consequence ? Why, 
this, that ardor of soul sinks into ardor of passion. The power 
that ought to keep passion in subjection ministers to it. From 
the guardian angel that it was, it becomes, as it were, an attend- 
ing demon. The future heaven is darkened, that the paradise 
of earth may glow with more intensity — as the sun is shut out 
that the banquet-room may glare the more gaudily. The Club 
leaders do not speculate or reason — talk of political economy, 
education, or reform. They rant, and declaim, and conspire. 
They thirst for a present pleasure — for the practical enjoyment 
of those stimulating tastes which they imbibe from romances — 
for an intoxicating draught of material joy, without which they 
feel life to be baffled of its true object, and of which they deem 
themselves deprived by possessors of property. Hence, when the 
banner of the Rejmblique Dhnocratique et Sociale is held to the 
light, the real characters come out in three words — •' Blood, pil- 
lage, and violation." 

The cruelties attributed to the mob army of the Sociahsts rest 
upon evidence of an incontrovertible kind. Those who were in 
Paris during the insurrection and afterward, must have heard of 
many instances of murder and mutilation of prisoners. For some 
time after the insurrection, assassination of soldiers, National 
Guards, and especially of the Garde Mobile, were of daily and 
nightly occurrence. The murder of Brea has been described— 
the deliberate assassination of the Archbishop is proved by the 
fact that he was at the insurgents' side of the barricade when he 
was shot from a window, the ball making a descending course. 
Colonel Allard. who discerned a place in an alley between the 
Rue de Charenton and the Faubourg St. Antoine, where the 
insurgents had been making cartridges, says in his evidence before 

L 



243 INTENDED REIGN OF TERROR. 



the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, " The balls were cast 
in thimbles, others in gun-barrels, and the pieces of lead after- 
ward cut into pieces ; there were also seized some cartridges that 
revealed extraordinary ferocity : upon the cartridge was put a 
piece of cloth or greenish stuff that had been steeped in oxide of 
copper or in a corrosive oxide calculated to poison the wound. I 
have been told that several surgeons have picked up such cart- 
ridges." 

Colonel de Goyon of the 2d Dragoons, made a seizure of 
arms at a house opposite the Invalides where the insurgents had 
intended an opposition, and the report contains the following 
passage : — 

" I send you three balls, one machee and one trouee, in which 
there was a spiral wire to aggravate the wound : my dragoons 
have received, but without being wounded, some thirty of these 
balls. The third ball is one of a lot which was taken on an 
insurgent : it is of the form of a twisted cone, hollow, and with 
three chiseled internal angles, of a kind with which experiments 
had been maldng at Vincennes. How the insurgents got hold 
of this, remains to be seen. I send you a horrible ball, and some 
pieces of lead calculated to give frightful mortal wounds by these 
savage insurgents to the people and the army." 

The evidence of M. Trouve-Chauvel, the Prefect of Police, a 
thorough republican, given on the Inquiry the 4th July, is as 
follows : — 

"It is not by fighting in the streets, nor by barricades that 
the insurgents now want to proceed, but by assassination of 
women and children, by incendiarism and pillage. It is especi- 
ally in the first, second, and tenth Arrondissements that they 
mean to put their infamous projects into execution." 

With such authentic accounts as these, there need be little 
hesitation in believing the design attributed to the insurgents, of 
inaugurating their social and democratic republic by a reign of 
terror more brutal that that of 1793. 

In a collection of documents made by a National Guard, 
relative to the revolution, from February to June, there is the 
following paragraph : — " Upon several individuals who had been 



6ECRET SOCIETIES. 243 



arrested, it is stated that papers were found, in which the insur- 
gents had prepared belbrehand the clauses of the capitulation of 
Paris — so certain did they feel of victory I These articles stipu- 
lated, 500 heads of their selection, 4-00 millions' indemnity for 
the workmen, four hours' plunder, the Red Pvepublic, and the 
constitution of 1793. Although these facts have been confirmed 
by a great many journals, it is hardly possible to give credit to 
them." 

And over society there yet hangs the same avalanche of demor- 
alization, ready, should an opportunity be afforded, to overwhelm 
it in destruction. 

The Clubs may be closed, but how are the secret societies to 
be guarded against ? Their historj'' may serve to show their 
persevering activity. The first secret society of which we have 
an account, was formed in the year 1821, and was called the 
secret society of the Cliarboitniers : the society would seem to 
have borrowed the heart of its organization from the Jesuits : 
each member being provided with a musket and fifty cartridges, 
was bound to obey orders with blind devotion, although ignorant 
of the source from whence they issued. The members of the 
various lodges called Vente, recognized each other by particular 
signs ; no member of one lodge, or Vente, dared to enter another 
under pain of death, and although the students of the schools 
were almost all in the conspiracy, the secret was so well kept 
that Government had not the least suspicion of its existence. 

The society Des Amis du Peuple was the most important of ^ 
any that existed under the monarchy of July ; it was discovered 
and suppressed, only to be transformed into the more famous 
society of the Droits de V Homme. This society was formed in 
1832, and the aim of its authors was to involve the w^hole 
country in a web of conspiracy. It was this society that organ- 
ized the insurrection of April, 1834, which broke out simul- 
taneously in Paris, Lyons, and St. Etienne. After these de- 
plorable events it again dissolved, and was reorganized under 
the name of Societe des Fcuiiilles, which being suppressed in 
1837, was once more organized under the name of Societe des 
Saisoris. The mystical names given to the several subdivisions 



244 SECRET SOCIETIES— HOW MODIFIED. 

may serve to explain, not their construction only, but that of 
similar societies. A subdivision of six men was called a loeek, 
and the leader Sunday. Four weeks meeting together were 
called a month, and the leader July. Three months' meeting 
formed a season, and the chief was named Spring ; four seasons 
made a year, and the commander-in-chief had the rank of a rev- 
olutionary agent. The chiefs were the notorious Barbes, Blanqui, 
and Martin Bernard. It was by this society that was directed 
the famous emeute of 12th May, 1839. The society having 
died with the emeute, gave rise to that of Des Travailleurs 
Egalitaires, of which Albert, a member of the Provisional Gov- 
ernment of February, was a member. In lieu of the names 
weeks, months, &c., as in the saisons, were substituted metiers, 
ateliers, fabriques, &c. With the revolution of February the 
old secret societies met openly, under the authorized form of 
Clubs ; that of the Droits de V Homme was the guiding spirit of 
the insurrection of June. 

In considering the history of these societies, we can not fail to 
be struck with the fact that the students and men of high polit- 
ical repute who, under the restoration, entered such confedera- 
tions, are not found in those which were formed under the reign 
of Louis-Philippe : they fell under the guidance of some des- 
peradoes who carried the views, which the schools had shaken 
off, into the working part of the population. The reason of this 
may be found in the spread of education, and a freer political 
government, which satisfied the minds of intelligent men by 
giving scope to their faculties, and opening parliamentary life to 
their energies. The student was not offended by the intrusion 
of the Jesuit ; the professor might become minister of state. If 
the educated, the ardent, and the intelligent have been rescued 
from conspiracy, why might not the working man ? In his case 
it is not so easy to point out remedies. The question for him, as 
regards education, is not one of freedom from an obnoxious influ- 
ence, but how it is to be given, and of what quality ; how he is 
to be made to feel and know that the state cares for him from 
his infancy to his age. 

We have referred to the circumstance of the migrating tend- 



SOCIAL EVILS— SUGGESTED REMEDIES. 245 

encies of wealthy city inhabitants, and their consequences in 
leaving, as it were, deposits of poor. Might not some remedy 
against this evil be found ? Suppose there should be formed in 
each Arrondissement, or, as we might say, parish, a committee 
charged with the superintendence of its interests — that this 
committee should keep a statistical account, marking the num- 
ber of inhabitants and their ways of life, so that, in case par- 
ticular branches of business, for instance, should begin to decline 
— '''■-^ fact and its causes should be ascertained in time, so as 
to .'uaiit of remedies before total ruin should be accomplished. 
Then schools might be noticed — the number of pupils, and how 
they increase and decline, and why. If to such a society there 
were attached a sufficient number of active visitors — if there 
were established proper communication among the parochial 
committees, for the sake of consultation and advice, and again 
between them and the Government, much evil might be check- 
ed in the bud, the feelings and views of the population might be 
known and guided, and the working man would have the con- 
sciousness that he and his children were cared for. This may 
be a crude hint, but it is not fanciful ; it is suggested by the 
evil itself; for if there were such a thing as local, active super- 
intendence, an extension of municipal government consulting the 
welfare of every portion of society, it would follow, not that all 
the miseries of mankind would be prevented, but many of them 
would ; at all events they would take a different form from that 
now presented, which is the most dangerous of any that can be 
conceived. 



CHAPTEU XXVII. 

THE ASSEMBLY CAVAIGNAC PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT HIS 

CABINET GENERAL LAMORICIERE M. SENARD M. GOUDCHAUX 

EAU SUCREE REVIEW OF A MONTH -ABBE DE LAMENNAIS 

MAUGUIN. 

We may now resume our personal sketches of the National 
Assembly, according to the plan we have adopted, of connecting 
with the most prominent naembers notices of such questions as 
serve to illustrate the characters of individuals, the temper of 
the Assembly itself, or the general temper of the times. 

In the sitting of the 28th June, General Cavaignac laid 
down his authority, when, after expressing their feelings of en- 
thusiasm and gratitude, the Assembly determined upon confiding 
to him the executive power, with the title of President of the 
Council of Ministers, whom he should himself appoint. He at 
once presented a list of the new administration : War, General 
Lamoriciere ; Interior, M. Senard ; Foreign Affairs, M. Bastide ; 
Justice, M. Bethmont ; Commerce, M. Thouret ; Public Instruc- 
tion, M. Carnot ; Finance, M. Goudchaux ; Public Works, M. 
Recurt ; Marine, Admiral Leblanc. 

The first name on the list, General Lamoriciere, filled every 
one with satisfaction — a more gallant little fellow never breathed. 
His name was well known to France long before his countrymen 
had learned to make more familiar acquaintance with the hero 
of Algeria. It was not lucky for his republican expectations 
that, toward the latter end of the monarchy, he should have 
visited his country for the sake of seeking the honor of represent- 
ing a constituency. When he did offer himself a candidate for 
a seat in the Chamber, all parties became desirous of obtaining 
possession of so brilliant a military reputation. As he was known 
to differ from Marshal Bugeaud on the question of the colonization 
of Algeria, the republicans, who held the Marshal in peculiar 



LAiMORICIERE. 247 



detestation, hoped to have found a rival capable of matching him 
in parliament. The adroit mamier in which the young General 
contrived to elude the pledges that were put to him, irritated 
the republicans, and it was with evident annoyance they saw 
him take his seat on the conservative benches of the centre 
gaicche. As he confined himself to the special subject of the 
Algerine colonization question, he was but little committed to 
party. When the Pv-evolution of February broke out, the Gen- 
eral, with characteristic intrepidity, threw himself among the 
combatants of the Chateau d'Eau, opposfte the Palais Royal, 
and tried to put a stop to the effusion of blood, by announcing 
the abdication of the King ; in which endeavor he received a 
wound hi the hand, and had his horse killed under him. Had 
the monarchy made a stand, and throAvn itself upon the army, 
Lamoriciere would have attacked the barricades with as much 
intrepidity as he did afterward in June. At the tribune he was 
very successful. With Cavaignac, who seemed to love him, 
Lamoriciere formed a contrast. The former, tall, dignified, and 
of that mild austerity bestowed with such miraculous art by 
Shakspeare upon Brutus. The latter, small, stout, black, curly- 
headed, and with soft, luminous, dark eyes, full of passion, 7'iise, 
and impetuosity, as if a young Frenchman of the Polytechnic 
school had been held by the heel in some magic river of the 
East, and come out half eastern. The Assembly roared one day 
with pleasant laughter, as Lamoriciere bounded about on his 
bench, as if he were struggling with a wild courser of the desert, 
to see the grave Cavaignac, his face relaxing into a smile, place 
his hand upon his comrade's head, and pat him into tranquillity. 
On ascending the tribune in the midst of noise and interruption, 
Lamoriciere would thrust his hands into his side trowsers pock- 
ets, with the naivete of an enfant de troujje, and wait to be 
heard. His retorts were generally excellent, from their pointed 
good sense, conveyed with an air of half malicious honhommie. 
He floored the incoherent pedant, Pierre Leroux, one day, with 
a word. The subject was Algeria : the philosopher carried his 
hearer through Greece and Rome, which was all very well, as 
Lamoriciere said, if he had not left out the Arabs ; and he asked 



248 SENARD— GOUDCHAUX. 

leave, with much gravity, to supply the omission, as the Arabs 
were somewhat interested in a question relating solely to Algeria, 
The nomination of General Lamoriciere to be Minister of War 
was received with the utmost favor by all sections of moderatism. 

The new Minister of the Interior, M, Senard, had come into 
the Assembly with a high provincial reputation. He was an 
advocate, with whose fame the antique capital of Normandy re- 
sounded ; but, like many other lawyers, his talent was not served 
by transplantation. His professional neatness of appearance gave 
him rather the air of an English solicitor than a French demo- 
crat ; and his guttural voice marked him to be a pure descendant 
of the sons of the north. He had the air of an ardent, busy, 
well-intentioned man, but not at all that of commanding talent. 
How he could have earned the high reputation he lield, was 
rather a puzzle. His voice was peculiarly painful to listen to : 
he spoke as if in a state of chronic choking, and the words came 
out in abrupt gushes, like Hquid from a bottle into which the cork 
has been pushed down ; and yet this gentleman was to be the 
orator of the Cabinet I 

Of M. Bastide we have already spoken : his appointment gave 
satisfaction, for the reason that his name was regarded as a 
pledge of a peace poUcy with foreign powers. M. Bethmont 
was of the old moderate opposition party under the monarchy ; 
M. Thouret, a quiet country democrat ; M. Carnot's name was 
received with loud marks of disapprobation, and so was M. Re- 
curt's. Admiral Leblanc did not accept office. We have, then, 
only to describe the new Minister of Finance, M. Goudchaux. 
Those who have had the pleasure to meet in the city of London, 
or on 'Change, one of those swarthy, intelligent faces, indicating, 
like the name of the possessor, hereditary descent from some 
Huguenot of the time of Louis XIV., obliged to fly after the 
revocation of the edict of Nantes, will have no difficulty in fig- 
uring to themselves the new Minister of Finance. He is a smart, 
well-combed, wel] -brushed, portly little man of sixty : they say 
he is a Jew, but he looks more like a merchant-methodist. Now 
this orderly little man happens to be one of the most sharp, per- 
sonal-provoking, pistol-handling little financiers on record. He 



GOUDCHAUX. 24^ 



was the first finance minister of the Provisional Government ; 
but, with his well-known acumen, he saw ruin coming:, and with- 
drew, leaving to Garnier Pages the honor of announcing that 
the Republic had saved France from bankruptcy. He had rea- 
son to know the communist designs of a portion of the Provisional 
Government, to which the other portion were probably dupes ; 
for M. Goudchaux sat at their council board when what was now 
a government had been a conspiracy. This was a little before 
the catastrophe of February, foreseeing which, and deeming it to 
be inevitable, the republican banker assembled his friends, and 
among others, Louis Blanc. When they came to compare notes, 
it was found that the party was divided. Louis Blanc was a 
rank communist, and a double conspiracy grew within the main 
conspiracy. While all regarded the fall of the monarchy as cer- 
tain, the moderate republican conspired to exclude the commun- 
ist, and the communist to get the republican down. 

The monarchy fell, and Goudchaux and Louis Blanc met at 
the council board of the H6tel-de-Ville. Blanc proposed the 
adoption of the drapeau rouge. Goudchaux threatened to re- 
sign in case that sinister banner should be upheld. Blanc 
retorted by saying that blood would flow, and that Goudchaux's 
head would be held answerable. Such was the fraternity behind 
the curtain. Goudchaux acknowledges that he held a battle to 
be inevitable, and was only anxious to see it take place in March 
or April, that it might be more easily settled than if the extreme 
party were allowed to extend their means and consolidate their 
organization. 

When Blanc ensconced himself in the Luxembourg, and when 
the national ateliers were formed, Goudchaux, seeing that the 
communist element had been introduced and was in active opera- 
tion, threw up office, and lost popularity out of doors. There is 
no man who runs such danger in revolutionary times as the mod- 
erate revolutionist who will not go the whole length with his 
party. He becomes a drag upon their designs, and a living 
censure of their conduct ; he clashes with his brother conspira- 
tors, irritates their passions, and is devoted, in their minds, to 
destruction. 



250 GOUDCHAUX— EAU SUCREB. 

M. Goudchaux became very unpopular with the communists, 
because they expected that he would have given the sanction of 
his name and example to some of the new-fangled notions of 
these dreamers in matters of finance. He was expected to have 
played the part of a banking Philippe Egalite — to have descend- 
ed from the financial aristocracy into the phalanstere of Consi- 
derant, the barter bank of Bourbon, or the communist establish- 
ment of tailors at Clichy, organized experimentally, and, most 
unfortunately, by Blanc. 

M. Goudchaux fell into the mistake that he could rule the 
conspiracy market as a Hothschild could rule the bourse, and 
send up the moderate and honest republican stock with the same 
facility with which he had cast down monarchy. Little did he 
foresee that the whole framework of society, becoming disorgan- 
ized, and every element of evil let loose, the worst must become 
the most active, and the moderate revolutionists be driven to self- 
defense. The banker stood by the bourgeois in their hour of 
peril, as firmly as the late Earl Grey stood by his order in the 
perilous battle of reform ; his courage gave confidence to the 
trading classes, so that his adhesion to the cabinet of General 
Cavaignac was taken as a guarantee that there would be no com- 
promise with societies and communism. 

As a parliamentary speaker, M. Goudchaux failed ; when he 
was interrupted he lost temper, and his expressions of anger were 
neither keen or polished. His main resource in oratorical diffi- 
culties was the glass of eaii s,ucree, of which a constant supply is 
kept at the tribune. When M. Goudchaux was embarrassed for 
a sentence, he ran — for he was quick in all movements— to his 
glass of sugared water. His draughts were sometimes so repeat- 
ed as to produce a ludicrous effect, and the more the house 
laughed, the more M. Goudchaux became embarrassed — the 
more he became embarrassed, the more frequently he ran to his 
tumbler ; and all the while the by-play of rapid supply and still 
more rapid demand, expenditure outstripping income, demand 
beating supply, debtor and creditor not able to keep in a line — 
made a very pleasant comedy for the Assembly, which the confused 
financier only heightened by an evident inability to see its drift. 



CAVAIGNAC— ACTS OF HIS GOVERNMENT. 251 

With such a company we shall now have to see an almost 
untried manager at work- — a man who had passed his days in 
the field, away from his own country, a distant observer of a scene 
of politics in which he took no part ; a man unused to parlia- 
mentary life — unacquainted with parties, one who had probably 
never made a speech in his life : such was the trying position in 
which General Cavaignac, by an extraordinary combination of 
circumstances, found himself placed. He had, it is true, a grate- 
ful Assembly over which he had acquired great moral authority ; 
but out of doors there was a vindictive population thirsting for 
vengeance, with the Clubs in active existence to keep its animos- 
ity aUve. There was an army hovering over the Alps, and he, 
a soldier, had to learn the whole question of foreign policy : a 
republican by character, he had to maintain martial law. A new 
man had come on the revolutionary stage — had the great man of 
the revolution been at length found ? 

It is now no longer necessary to take a daily note of the As- 
sembly as it was previously to the insurrection of June, when 
each day's proceedings did something to advance, to retard, to 
modify, or affect in some way the inevitable struggle. Should 
another struggle take place, it will not be like the past, in so far 
as the Assembly is concerned. To mark the altered position of 
the Constituent would be to anticipate a subject to which we 
shall be carried by-and-by. In the mean time, we will notice 
only the most remarkable sittings — remarkable according to the 
view which has hitherto influenced our attention, as bringing out 
important men of whom we have not yet spoken, and in relation 
to topics with which their names are more immediately identified. 
Throughout the month of July there was hardly a seance of such 
a nature as that it would serve our particular purpose to notice. 
The proceedings were generally of a sober and earnest character. 
Many of the crude decrees of the Provisional Government were 
abolished ; and as the late Executive Commission of five and 
their Ministers were the authors of those decrees, each condem- 
natory act sounded like a posthumous vote of censure. The na- 
tional ateliers, were broken up by a simple ordinance of the chief 
pf the executive power, who equally by bis own authority kept 



*i52 OARNOT— MARIE— LAMENNAIS. 

on martial law, stopped the Clubs, and held the journals under 
strict surveillance. The decree of the Provisional Government 
limiting the hours of labor was abolished ; while labor exercised 
in prisons, but prohibited by the Provisional Government, was 
restored. It was found that unfortunate convicts who had been 
deprived of the privilege of toil, lest their productions should come 
in competition with those of the honest, became idiotic, or went 
mad, or threatened to sink into irreclaimable demoralization. 
The new Government hastened to repair the injustice that had 
been done to those persons who, having deposited their earnings 
in the savings' bank, had been forced to accept depreciated stock 
at a higher rate than the market price. The holders of treasury 
bills were compensated in some degree for the breach of faith that 
was excused by the revolution, and there were better terms afford- 
ed to Tontine associations for their money, which had been ruth- 
lessly seized hold of by the founders of the Republic. The As- 
sembly also marked in particular and individual instances its 
feelings toward men who showed subversive or conservative tend- 
encies. 

M. Carnot, the Minister of Public Instruction, felt obliged to 
resign, in consequence of the disapprobation manifested on account 
of the exposure of a manual of political instruction which had been 
published under his patronage, and betrayed the wildest socialist 
tendencies. 

M. Marie, on the other hand, who, notwithstanding that he 
was identified with the Provisional Government, and had formed 
one of the Executive Commission, was elected President of the 
Assembly, and was afterward nominated Minister of Justice, on 
account of the firmness and integrity of his conduct. There was 
one moment of the old revolutionary interest on a day when the 
Abbe de Lamennais mounted the tribune to challenge the Gov- 
ernment to prosecute him in the place of the printer of his jour- 
nal, the Peitple Comtituant. That little, shriveled, snufT-be- 
grimed man, who looked like an automaton carved out of unpol- 
ished mahogany, and whose voice could not be caught at a few 
paces' distance, had evoked by the potency of his magic pen the 
fiercest passions of the revolution. His system was unlicensed 



MAUGUIN. 253 



democrac5^ without socialism. He was as much opposed to Louis 
Blanc as to the RepubUque mod'eree. He was a politician repub- 
lican of the red die. The apostate abbe would have taken a 
cardinal's hat for its color. When the insurrection of June was 
quelled, he threw up his journal, exclaiming that the Republic 
was no more. He sat like Marius among the ruins of the barri- 
cades, broke his wand like Prospero, and cast his book into the 
sea. For his parting maledictions his printer was held respon- 
sible, and the perverse old ex-priest thought he did an act of 
chivalry when he invited the thunderbolt of the law to his own 
head. The thunder of Cavaignac was not, after all, so very 
dreadful, and the coup de theatre failed to produce any effect 
within doors or without. 

The last week of July brought into the field some giants of 
the past and of the present. M. Thiers and M. Proudhon, the 
champion of the rights of property, and the man who frightened 
society with his heresy that " property is robbery," carried their 
controversy to the tribune, The Pasteur Coquerel brought in a 
bill for restraining clubs, and M. Mauguin resaddled and bridled 
his old war-horse, whose neighing in the first days of the Revo- 
lution of July were echoed far and wide from the shores of 
Bucephalus, and from countries unknoA^ni to his master, Alexander. 
M. Mauguin, although older by eighteen years than when his 
sharp words, like arrows steeped in gall, used to make the 
proud, towering, and impetuous Casimir Perrier, that giant of 
peace, bound foaming to the tribune, this Monsieur, now Citizen 
Mauguin, is still a fine, tall, graceful man, with spirited, hand- 
some features, and undimmed eye. In 1831 he was one of the 
most prominent and effective leaders of the war party ; but as 
peace policy was firmly established through the courage of Casi- 
mir Perrier, who bore the heat of the day, leaving to his master 
the slow, pertinacious effort of consolidation, the martial Mauguin 
was obliged to retire into his tent, and mourn over his useless 
sword. He becariie a Bonapartist, and for years consoled him- 
self with the prospect of a Napoleon dynasty. The Commerce 
was for years regarded as a Bonapartist organ, deriving its in- 
spiration from Mauguin. The latter either mistook his time, or 



254 MAUGUIN. 



time swept past him too rapidly, for his opinions grew out of 
date, and he sank into neglect ; so that notwithstanding his 
power of oratory and elegant elocution, he failed in latter years 
to attract the attention of the Chamber of Deputies. But had 
not his time come ? He is in the National Assembly, after a 
revolution more sweeping than that of July, and he rises, to use 
his own language, at a moment when there are four different 
movements in Europe, " Quartre mouvements, remarquez le 
hien, en etat de guerre mar chant avec le canon.''' The first 
was the movement of nationality. Its cannon was firing in 
Italy. The second was the movement of races, of which the 
strife between the Germanic and Sclavonic races afforded exam- 
ples. The third was a territorial question, affecting the East, 
especially when Russia was establishing herself in Moldavia and 
Wallachia. And the fourth, the most serious of all, was that 
war of principles which had made battle-grounds of Vienna, 
Berlin, and of all Germany and Italy, 

How happy must Mauguin have felt. The world was all 
before him, like a chess-board ; he could move Russia here, 
Austria there, and show France check-mated ; because, instead 
of rushing into the melee, and not allowing a battle to be fought 
without her presence, she remained inactive. Nothing could be 
more surprising than the ease and brilliancy with which the 
orator took asunder his dissected map, and held each country 
between his finger and thumb, giving an illustrated lecture on 
geography, with an account of the sea and land forces of every 
kingdom, its interests and its designs, like the diable hoiteux, 
viewing the Spanish capital from the chimney top. Not only 
did he tell how fields were won, but he opened the doors of 
every royal Cabinet, until he closed the crowded and magic 
panorama with the old question, whether France was to allow 
all that to pass about her as the phantom of a dream seen in 
her apathetic sleep. How the world marches — how new senti- 
ments take their unobserved yet certain growth I This impas- 
sioned, revolutionized France, as represented in her universal- 
suffrage chosen Assembly, was as deaf and as unmoved as the 
old Chamber to the voice of the martial charmer. A republican 



MAUGUIN. 255 



soldier, calm and miexcited, shakes off the arrows that stimg old 
Casimir Perrier to death. German and Slave, Austrian and 
Lombard, may fight ; Russia may steal into the provinces of 
the Danube, Poland writhe, the Parliament of Frankfort de- 
claim, Vienna and Berlin shake as from earthquakes, yet Mau- 
guin can not win a cheer from Gallic democracy, stunned by the 
specter of June. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE PASTEUR COQUEREL. 

It was on the Pasteur Coquerel that devolved the conduct of 
the law affecting clubs. This reverend gentleman, notwith- 
standing his high reputation, had not much success with the As- 
sembly, which is the more surprising, as his speeches at the 
hustings were a series of popular triumphs. It is not from the 
effect produced in the pulpit that parliamentary power can be 
predicted, but the hustings might surely be supposed to reveal 
something of a speaker's peculiar qualifications for influencing 
popular assemblies. It was in a large menage, or riding-school, 
in the Faubourg St. Martin, that a few days previous to the 
election for the department of the Seine, a preparatory meeting 
of the Protestant democrats was called for the sake of hearino: the 
'profession de foi of different candidates. Several candidates ad- 
dressed that meeting : the most effective were M. Wolowski, M. 
Coquerel, and a young operative whose name I forget ; and on a 
show of hands taking place these three were universally approved. 
This meeting so truly spoke the general feeling of the electoral 
body that two were chosen for seats in the Assembly, these two 
being M. Wolowski and M. Coquerel. Any one who had had 
the good fortune to have attended that meeting would have left 
it with a very favorable impression of French popular assemblies, 
and generally speaking the same may be said with reference to 
the Clubs. If the French are not habituated to public political 
meetings, yet it must be remembered that they pass much of 
their time abroad in places of amusement, that they love 
theaters and shows ; and from constant attendance of crowded 
places there is an established conventional system of order, a 
habit of quiet attention, and observance of mutual convenience, 
which does not desert them even when the scene is transferred 
to the Club or place of public meeting. There is a spirit of order 



COQUEREL. 257 



even behind the barricades, so that the Enghshman, accustomed 
to the harmless warfare of Covent Garden at a Middlesex election, 
would be mistaken if he took the wonderful politeness that marked 
preliminary hustings assemblages, and the still more wonderful 
calm with which millions of votes were dropped into the ballot- 
box with the noiselessness of a snow-shower, as certain proof that 
there was no subterranean fire, no gathering element of explosion. 

M. Wolowski, the brother-in-law of Leon Faucher, and a pro- 
fessor of the Arts et Metiers, spoke with deep earnestness of tone, 
unaccompanied by gesticulation. As common to all candidates, 
his speech manifested the deep interest he took in the working- 
classes ; but altii: :;.iih pressed on the subject he did not commit 
himself to the adoption of Louis Blanc's great panacea, the 
organisation du travail, although he admitted that all systems 
deserved the most profound study and attention. When M. Co- 
querel spoke after the somewhat cold and didactic professor, he 
excited a degree of enthusiasm such as is rarely manifested by 
Parisian assemblages ; he recounted his various attendances at 
public meetings, and his kindly reception by the working classes, 
among whom, he ventured to pledge himself, the doctrines of the 
Communists had made no progress. The working people gave 
no ear to incomprehensible theories, but looked for the ameliora- 
tion of their condition to improved institutions. 

A variety of questions were put to the reverend orator, all of 
which he answered with frankness, warmth, and commanding 
eloquence. In his case it was not necessary for the chairman 
to call for a show of hands expressive of the adoption of the can- 
didate or the contrary, for when the President rose to do so he 
was anticipated by a universal burst of applause ; and yet M. 
Coqucrel, the admirable preacher, the captivating lecturer, the 
terse, logical, and close writer, and, as we have seen, no bad 
hand at playing the demagogue, failed in the Assembly, but he 
failed as Lacordaire had failed, because he was a divine. 

The Assembly had come charged with the traditions of the 
first revolution. A hollow liberality had allowed the bishop, the 
friar, the priest, and the dissenter to take their places in the 
great council of the nation, at the door of which they left their 



258 COQUEREL. 



clerical titles, but could not, and tliey ought not, leave the sanc- 
tity of their character. It was that sanctity which gave offense 
to ignorant and intolerant infidelity. But after all, the Lacor- 
daires and Coquerels were only treated as badly as the Berryers, 
and not so badly as the Thiers's. The nervous and impassioned 
Lacordaire, although he fled from so insupportable a scene, yet 
by his over-excited eloquence hushed into surprised attention his 
almost affrighted listeners ; but the reasoning minister, accus- 
tomed not so much to exhortation as to argument, looked down- 
cast, and his voice that could ring like a hautboy, sunk into a 
weak, thin, nasal sound. In committee, however, M. Coquerel 
maintained the authority of his mind and word. He was chosen 
to draw up the report on the law for suppressing the Clubs ; he 
took an active part in the preparation of the constitution ; and 
what was more important still, to his hand was confided the 
great work of drawing up the system of poor-laws, to which the 
Assembly^ stood pledged by its affirmation, inscribed in the con- 
stitution, that the poor have a right to assistance from the State 
— a subject to which we shall have to recur as we proceed. 

M. Coquerel, on entering the Assembly, took his seat on the 
same bench with M. Odilon Barrot, and among the ex-members 
of the old Chamber of Deputies that belonged to the constitutional 
opposition. His attitude implied that he accepted and would 
support a moderate republic, respecting the fundamental rights 
of property and family, and treating religious sects with toleration. 
Was there not toleration under the monarchy ? Yes and no. 
There was no persecution certainly, but there was every discour- 
agement offered to the rise and spread of religious sects. The 
law tolerated sects, and even made pecuniary allowance to 
ministers ; but a religious meeting could not be held without 
license from the local authorities, and such license was generally 
withheld. The Government of the Monarchy entertained such 
a nervous horror of public meetings and Clubs, that it feared lest 
religious societies should be made a convenient cloak for political 
parties, or that the habit, if allowed to grow, might extend to 
political associations. Perhaps they had the history of Charles T. 
and of Cromwell, of the Presbyterian fifth-monarchy men and Long 



COQUERBL. 259 



Parliament before their eyes, and all that coupled with their own 
stanch Huguenots ; but certain it is, that with all their boasted 
liberality and real indifierence, there was a very efiectual, although 
. tidirect repression of biblical sects ; so much so, that if such men 
s M. Coquerel viewed the advent of the Republic with hope, 
they did so in the joy which all ardent lovers of the dissemination 
of what they believe to be truth must feel when emancipated 
suddenly from galling restrictions. Such men looking to the 
cause they have at heart regard means as in the hands of Provi- 
dence ; politics take a second rank in their minds, and if they 
accept a republic with promises of freedom coming after a mon- 
archy which allowed it, but in a stinted measure, they are not 
on that account factious or lovers of change. 

We have now before us M. Thiers ; but he deserves a chapter 
to himself. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

M. THIERS. 

The most brilliant part of M. Thiers' monarcliical parliament- 
ary career, if the phrase be admitted, was perhaps its close. 
Whether there yet be reserved for this gentleman new triumphs 
under the republican, or some future modification of popular or 
constitutional government, it is not given to us to predict ; but 
should such triumphs be reserved for him, they will afford but 
fitting compensation for the bitterness of the mortification he has 
had to endure at the hands of the revolution. The last appear- 
ance of M. Thiers in the tribune of the .Chamber of Deputies, 
and his first in that of the National Assembly, formed quite a 
contrast. Between these events another had occurred. He was 
Minister for a few hours — long enough to compromise his char- 
acter with the republican, without effecting any good for the 
throne. 

Let us revert to his last appearance in the Chamber of Depu- 
ties. For two years or so previously, M. Thiers had taken no 
part in public debates. To those who have watched the public 
career of politicians, it would seem as if the recognized leaders of 
parties bidding for power, only made a movement in advance, 
when a fair chance was presented of effecting a practical triumph. 
How often have they, who are familiar with the idiomatic lan- 
guage of the political salons, heard the speech of a Count Mole 
or a M. Thiers designated an Act. The fact of such men mak- 
ing opposition speeches has been taken to indicate coming changes 
of administration. The appearance of M. Thiers in the debate 
on the unlucky speech which opened the parliament of 1848, 
was regarded as "an Act." It had taken possession of the 
popular belief, that this eminent person had abandoned all notion 
of ofhce during the life-time of the King, and that he held him- 
self in reserve for the regency. He knew that he ne.ver could 
force on the King an acceptance of his famous maxim, ie Roi 



THIERS. 261 

regne mais ne gouvenie pas ; and he thought that he foresaw so 
clearly under the weaker rule of a regent — with the impulses of 
a popular kind that acquire vigor from new reigns — the advent 
of parliamentary government, that he deemed it not worth his 
while to put the Monarchy in peril by engaging in a premature 
struggle. Nor was he, in fact, personally hostile to the King, or 
desirous of making himself obnoxious to the reigning family. He 
gave striking proof of his disposition in that respect, by supporting 
the Regency Bill which Louis-Philippe had so much at heart. 

The Due de Nemours, the eldest son of the King, was gener- 
ally unpopular. The Duchess of Orleans much respected. Thiers 
had been a favorite guest of the salons of her husband, was re- 
garded as his future Minister, and had he declared for the mother 
of the Comte de Paris, he might, had he been so disposed, have 
thwarted very much the desires of the Court. However incom- 
patible his views with those of the King, the latter could not 
regard him in the light of an enemy to his throne. The regency 
would, according to the calculations of human foresight, bring 
about naturally the great object he had in view — the heading an 
administration independent of the Court, relying solely on the 
majority in parliament, as parliament was then constituted ; for 
M. Thiers had no taste for Odilon Barrot's reform, 

A younger man than M. Guizot by eleven years, and younger 
than M. Mole by twice that sura, without any rising competitor 
of equal fame, M. Thiers might have felt warranted in regarding 
the future as his own. Although silent in the Chambers, he 
was busy in his closet, from which issued at becoming intervals 
the huge tomes of his History of the Consulat and the Empire. 
The book was doubly a study to the curious. The History of 
the Revolution by the same author had been called a pamphlet 
monstre, directed against the Restoration, and when it had over- 
thrown it, or aided to do so, formed the pinnacle on which stood 
the young Minister of Louis-Philippe. Was the History of the 
Empire but a preface to another gigantic effort for remodeling 
the map of Europe, with the Rhine for the boundary of France, 
and all other countries the vassals of her will ? Many thought 
so ; and M. Thiers tried to reassure the many ; but his raodera- 



262 THIERS. 

tion was distrusted, and his moralizings about insensate ambition 
treated as simple mystifications. M. Thiers, in one sense a bad 
historian of the Repubhc, was, by his very defects, a good histo- 
rian of the Empire. His first work has not been unjustly treated 
as a deification of force, his second is a narrative of the acts of 
the consummate wielder of force. 

If it required a deeply philosophical spirit to deal with the 
Revolution, the absence of philosophy is not felt in treating of 
invasions, of battles, of wide devastation and ruin, of selfish am- 
bition, of crushing despotism, however mingled with taste for 
practical science applied solely to domination, or appreciation for 
the fine arts regarded with a view to its decoration. Before M. 
Thiers set about erecting a temple to Napoleon, he had bowed 
the knee to Danton. Human energy is his idolatry. The 
physical, and not the moral, holds supreme sway over his sym- 
pathies. You would search all Thiers in vain for a thought that 
would show him of the race of Pascal. If Napoleon sufiers, it is 
not because he has proved rebel to the great laws of his Creator, 
but because of some violation of the Talleyrand code of morality 
— he committed a fault, and " a fault is worse than a crime." 
His erring hero was simply unskillful, or carried away by passion. 
Nevertheless it must be allowed that the author sometimes ap- 
proaches the borders of the purest regions of moral science. His 
mind, like all strong minds, tends toward order. It repels 
anarchy, with its fanciful, fitful, imbecile efforts to produce any 
thing good or great. This love of order as exhibited in sympathy 
with strong power giving unity to the state, rises to an analogous 
appreciation of the harmony imposed by the everlasting will. M. 
Thiers would seem to know, and to understand rather than to 
feel, the beauties of moral truths. He not unfrequently writes 
about them, but they make no part of his nature. Yet it would 
seem that those best qualified to judge do not think so, for Thiers 
contrived to win from the side of M. Guizot, and to make devoted 
friends of such men as Remusat and Duvergier de Hauranne, 
while Cousin is one of the illustrious of his party and his personal 
friend. Yet friendships are often the creation of temperament 
and temper, rather than of agreement in speculative opinion. 



THIERS. 263 

Doctors do not always relish being doctored. The axioms of 
the leader of the doctrinaires might have been wise, but the 
manner thereof unpleasant. How unconsciously does a tone jar 
on a susceptibility. The fault may be mutual ; but it is not 
always that we find even philosophers in constant company. 
The lord of the forest dwells alone. The spectator seated in the 
tribune of the Chamber of Deputies, had only to keep his eye on 
Thiers upon any day of his self-devoted mutism, to gather his 
nature from the unconscious sparks that played forth unceasingly 
from his features and his person. Look at the little man, as he 
enters with the jerking movement of the Gamin de Paris, and 
yet he is fifty. He is dressed in many colors ; his coat light 
brown ; his trowsers light gray ; his waistcoat blue ; his neck- 
cloth some other color ; his little bright boots, as if his feet had 
been cut out of ebony. His smile, which is perennial, expresses 
a sort of undefinable finesse — a love of merry mischief; and 
should the opposition storm and the minister look annoyed, the 
little hands will rub together ; the eye will flash through the 
spectacles, and the gray hair appear on the head of that wild 
boy as a freak of Nature. Such would Thiers look as he seated 
himself among his friends after his morning's labor, begun at 
perhaps five o'clock. How much this expansive, thoroughly 
French temperament, may have had to do in attaching graver 
natures, the acute reader will probably determine for himself. 

The debate on the address in reply to the King's speech on the 
opening of the final session of 1848, brought out M. Thiers. 
He could no longer maintain silence. Some one hundred mem- 
bers — his own immediate friends, or his allies — had been ofiended 
by an unfortunate paragraph which described those who had 
taken part in the reform banquets as "hostile or blind." All 
considerations of party policy gave way before a sting to amour- 
propre. The battle had become personal. M. Thiers had not 
attended any of those banquets, and was believed to have disap- 
proved of their object, however he may have relished the em- 
barrassments which they occasioned to ministers. He threw 
himself, heart and soul, into the opposition, and attacked minis- 
ters in a series of speeches of extraordinary power. As each 




264 THIERS. 

paragraph of an address must be voted separately, so each para- 
graph may give rise to a protracted debate. The leader of the 
centre gauche took advantage of the opportunities afforded by 
parliamentary regulations, and he reviewed, separately and apart, 
the Spanish marriages, the Italian policy, Swiss policy, domestic 
legislation, financial blunders, and, in fine, the whole adminstra- 
tion, displaying very remarkable versatility. The public appeared 
to be enchanted with M. Thiers — the applause of the galleries 
echoed vehemently that of the opposition benches. The mem- 
bers of the royal family came to hear the attractive orator. M. 
Guizot, his great rival, had been suffering from the prevailing 
influenza, and was hardly equal to the struggle imposed on him 
by necessity. Yet how much more than a ministerial question 
was at stake. Ministers and monarchy disappeared. Reform 
escaped from M. Barrot ; there was no regency for M. Thiers. 
A figure of the Empire rose for a moment before his eyes, but 
he regarded it as a mockery. The most overwhelming unpopu- 
larity came like an avalanche thundering down, threatening to 
crush him at the moment that he appeared to be reaching the 
summit of greatness. He took to his bed, and for a while his 
friends felt alarm ; but so buoyant a nature could not long re- 
main the derision of his enemies. He got up, and sounded the 
depths of the turbulent current that threatened to sweep away 
all that was precious to civilized man, and he scornfully meas- 
ured its baselessness and shallowness. Thiers, who could not 
find a constituency in April, was returned by five in May : and 
this mark of reaction, instead of proving to the Red Republican 
of the Paris Clubs, how general was the esteem for this gentle- 
man's genius, only excited more their rage. His house had to 
be protected by military, and on one occasion a shot was fired 
at his friend Maquet, while he was ringing at the door, who, 
from his wearing a white hat, and being of similar height, was 
taken by the assassin for Thiers himself. 

On the 26th July, M. Thiers appeared for the first time in 
the tribune of the National Assembly. He had previously taken 
an active part in committee, but this was his first appearance 
before the Assembly. His object was to place a report in the 



THIERS. 265 

hands of the President, relative to a proposition of a very singu- 
lar kind that had been submitted by the Communist champion, 
Proudhon, who, in order to revive trade, which had suffered so 
much by the Revolution, and to relieve distress, offered a plan to 
the Assembly, which consisted of a sort of confiscation of one- 
thu'd of rents of all kinds, and interest on public securities. Ac- 
cording to this project of M. Proudhon, farmers and renters of 
houses and apartments would have to pay but two-thirds of their 
rents. Debtors could discharge their obligations by a tender of 
two-thirds of their debts ; and the same principle would be made 
to apply to all sorts of contracts. The state would adopt the 
same rule with regard to the public creditors, and toward all 
persons receiving pensions. 

The calculation of this famous speculator was, that the whole 
amount of money that would be gained by farmers, renters of 
houses, debtors, etc., would reach the immense sum of three mil- 
liards of francs, or £120,000,000 sterling. The half of this 
going to the State would save the necessity of imposing a year's 
taxation, to the relief of the people ; and the other half should 
be employed in the revival of manufactures, trade, and commerce. 
The proposition having, according to rule, been referred to the 
Finance Committee, M. Thiers was chosen to draw up a report, 
rebutting the calculations of Proudhon, and refuting his reasoning. 
It was with this report in his hand that he made his first bow to 
the Assembly. Conscious of the ill reception that awaited him, 
M. Thiers simply laid his paper on what we would call the table 
of the House. He did not hurry away, but lingered, suspecting, 
not unsagaciously, that the curiosity of members would overcome 
their antipathy ; for with Frenchmen the former is, in truth, the 
stronger feeling. He was loudly called upon to read his report, 
which every one knew to be charged mth provocation to personal 
controversy. Still he did not evince any empressement , but, with 
well-affected sa?ig froicl, fingered for some moments with the 
document, until repeated calls induced him to comply with what 
appeared to be a generally expressed wish. The paper possessed 
in a high degree the peculiar excellencies of the author : clear 
statement of his adversaries' argument, so clear, indeed, as to 

M 



266 THIERS. 

make the absurdity show itself, and render refutation almost su- 
perfluous ; the refutation then following, fresh and agreeable by 
its lucidity and happiness of expression. 

As we shall soon have to exhibit M. Proudhon in person, we 
need not dwell here upon the system which M. Thiers success- 
fully confuted. To M. Thiers we confine ourselves. The prin- 
ciples which he on this day introduced into his report were sub- 
sequently expanded by him into his famous work on property, in 
which he exam.ined the doctrines of the Communists and the 
Socialists on that subject, with sharp critical power, that over- 
threw their theoretic plans, but stopped there. 

No man whose mind has been imbued with Socialist ideas 
will rise satisfied from a perusal of this book. He will require 
to know something more than that the systems offered by Louis 
Blanc, Proudhon, and Considerant, are each defective, and at 
the same time so repel each other that they can not be combined. 
It will probably strike such a man, that there is less ofiense in 
proposing a vicious remedy for the manifest evils of the social 
system, than in holding the prevailing system to be incapable of 
remedy. " Whatever is, is best," may be a good maxim, taken 
in the extensive range of the philosophic view which sees one 
state as a link in the chain to another state, until step by step 
advances are made toward high improvement ; but if the max- 
im be frigidly offered to the revolutionist and the Socialist, as a 
dictum of fate, he will not accept it as a final answer to his ob- 
jections, or a barrier to his efforts. Reasoners like M. Thiers 
show, or endeavor to show, that there has taken place a steady 
degree of improvement in the condition of the working classes, 
from which an inference is sought to be drawn that improvement 
will go on, although never in such a way as to confound all 
ranks and degrees of social condition. So much for the material 
part of the argument, while for the moral, it is shown with more 
success, that suffering is of no station. 

But this mode of argument, however generally sound, does 
not reach far enough ; because, especially with reference to the 
material point, it is a moot question — that of the advanced phys- 
ical improvement of the working classes. From the alterations 



THIERS. 2G7 

brought into the habits of industry by the introduction of steam 
machinery and other causes, there arises a new order of facts, 
and new views, with which M. Thiers has not grappled ; and 
thus although his work, leveled with such force against Com- 
munists and Socialists, is good as far as it goes, yet it by no means 
exhausts the question. 

This is what we should have expected from the author. M. 
Thiers is eminently a matter-of-fact man : he is an esprit iwsitif. 
Moral philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, religion, all that relates 
to the soul of man, may be apprehended by so lucid an intel- 
ligence, but not affected. On this account it is that M. Thiers 
has only irritated the Socialists of all shades, who, perceiving his 
unfitness for the task of helping society in -what they conceive to 
be a transitive state, regard him as an interloper whose low 
views interpose an impediment in the way of a proper under- 
standing of social questions, and tend to confirm the bourgeois 
in his prejudices. 

It is feared, moreover, that he has no better remedy at hand 
than a diversion of the minds of the working classes by the ex- 
ploded vulgarity of brutal war. Man is in his eyes a machine 
of goverimaent, chair a canon — so thinks the Socialist — while 
the politician treats the author as an intriguant, who thinks ends 
justificatory of means. And then it is that because this eminent 
statesman and historian labors under the defect of a want of 
moral elevation, that his testimony against socialism has been 
received with angry protestations, while at the hands of poli- 
ticians he does not fare much better. He is not a man who has 
betrayed principles, because he has never had principles. His 
nature is a negation of such gifts. He can deal only with ex- 
ternals, and with externals he can deal incomparably ; therefore 
he is well fitted to be the historian of a Bonaparte, as he might 
have made a Louvois under a Louis XIV., a good administrator 
—a good general probably, and mayhap a wise financier or 
minister of public works — but a prime minister — no ! His short 
administration in 1840 laid the foundation of incalculable evils, 
and separated from him the conservative party as constituted 
imder the monarchy. As a politician, he had against him those 



268 THIERS. 

conservatives ; he had also the legitimists in the ranks of his 
foes, although Berryer and he loved to converse in private ; the 
republicans looked on him with aversion, so did all classes of 
Socialists. In fine, when Thiers entered the Assembly, he saw 
before him a congregated mass of political hate or distrust, 
enough to subdue almost any amount of courage. Yet he did 
not give way. Seldom, it is true, did he brave the insults of 
the mountain ; but he took an active part in organizing the 
benches of the right, and the influential Club of the Rue de 
Paictiers owed much of its strength and importance to his 
exertions. 

As he showed some hesitation in recognizing the claim of 
Louis Napoleon to the Presidency, he awakened the personal 
distrust of the Bonapartists ; but the brilliant historian of the 
Empire never could be regarded otherwise than with esteem and 
respect by the heir of the Emperor. There was also on record 
the translation of the remains of Napoleon from St. Helena to 
Paris, one of the first acts of Thiers as prime minister in 1840. 
Thus, on reviewing the life and conduct of this eminent indi- 
vidual, we see how it is that, distrusted as a public man, and by 
so many parties, he is yet so attaching and winning, that while 
his immediate party owns him as chief, he counts friends from 
all. Our sketch would not be, we shall not say complete, but 
finished, such as it is, without a word or two about his manner 
at the tribune. To an appearance by no means imposing, as 
we have already seen, nature has added the defect of a very bad 
voice. Sometimes it is wheezy and whispery — sometimes it is 
a squeal — but as the orator warms, it would seem as if he had 
by sheer strength of will overcome physical deficiencies, and his 
voice becomes clear, loud, and impressive. His style is, generally 
speaking, conversational, simple, and unaffected, without much 
gesture. His memory must be wonderful, for he has hardly a 
note before him even when going through complex financial crit- 
icisms, for which he has evidently a marked predilection. He 
has been known to correct from his seat statements of finance 
ministers, made from documents in hand, while he trusted to his 
memory only, with invariable accuracy. His language, always 



THIERS. 269 

limpid, in his impassioned moments flows out in astonishing 
abundance. His strong, square head, as seen in the tribune, 
atones lor the general meanness of his appearance. Such is 
Thiers — with a mind powerful but materiel in its cast, of fasci- 
nating manners, despite personal defects, with an implacable 
host of political foes, and yet friends from the ranks of all par- 
ties, admired for his talents, but held dangerous from liis inherent 
blindness to principle. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

M. PROUDHON. 

AMIDST the general wreck that followed the Revolution of 
February there arose a prodigious number of speculations and 
plans, the adoption of any one of which would, in the opinion of 
the author, change the face of society. It was remarked that 
the inmates of the mad-people's hospital at Charenton had caught 
the general infection, so that it became a question whether it 
was all Paris that had grown mad or all Charenton wise, for, 
in truth, all distinction between both had ceased. Every piece 
of a wall or practicable corner had assumed the most picturesque 
appearance ; placards of all colors — red, yellow, green, pink, and 
striped, or one half-length this color and the other that, like a pair 
of pantaloons made according to the fashion of the middle ages, 
fascinated attention by the most colorable schemes of prosperity. 
It was an embarras de richesse ; a patriotic finance-minister, 
anxious not merely to relieve public distress, but desirous of let- 
ting in a flood of milk and honey, had only to go to the nearest 
wall for an idea, more bright than had ever dawned on finance- 
minister before. The people, instead of employing their hands 
at toil, thrust them into their sidepockets, fixed their eyes upon 
visionary California, and enjoyed ecstatic illusions, as if the golden 
boughs of the gardens of the Hesperides were stooping of them- 
selves to their mouths. Was it not worth while making a revo- 
lution for such an opium dream ? Reverie and passion are near 
neighbors ; it is better to set the hand than the brain to work. 
There was a very ominous and very menacing speculation mania 
in that mad-hare month of March of the year of grace 1848. 
Even so sober and shrewd a man as Emile de Girardin elabo- 
rated une idee par joitr. Amidst the dancing shower of rain- 
bow bubbles one project, that of an exchange bank by Citizen— 
they were all Citoyens in those days — P. J. Proudhon attracted 



PROUDHON. 271 



some attention, and men of approved sagacity gave way to it ; 
the proprietor in order to make converts to his system pubhshed 
a newspaper called Represe7ita7it du Peuple, and to help his 
Exchange Bank, the banker-in-chief proclaimed property to be 
robbery. Such doctrine ruined the speculator, but it made the 
man, for to the astonishment, rather let us say to the afiright 
and bewilderment of all who clung to existing society, the author 
of tliis terrific sentence was returned a member for the depart- 
ment of the Seine, by an imposing mass of upward of 60,000 
votes. The Representant du Peiiple could no longer be poohed 
at. It was the organ of a man, who, if he had 60,000 votes, 
had the faubourgs for readers. 

It was soon discovered that this hitherto little known name 
was attached to treatises of a philosophical and an economical 
character. The publisher of M. Proudhon, to his surprise, found 
himself, amidst the general deterioration of property, one of the 
few men who was in the way of making money, and that by 
means of a man whose mission was to effect its destruction. 
The effect produced by the perusal of the author's works was 
euch as, perhaps, few readers could satisfactorily describe to 
themselves ; all that man is accustomed to hold dear, was de- 
nied. Paradox, such as made Rochefoucauld appear tame, and 
Rousseau in his most fitful moment of misanthropic sensibility 
rational and cahn, came from the apathetic hand of Proudhon 
as the soberest common-place. His works formed a series of 
negations. He would admit nothing. Construction, according 
to his fashion, should be preceded by universal destruction. By 
a daring analogy, he claimed, for his special convenience, a 
universal chaos as a necessary preliminary to order ; he went 
further, for he painted man as the rival of his Creator, and did 
not shudder at drawing the creature of beneficent disposition, and 
the Maker the contrary. He did indeed create, for he created 
God accordmg to an image of his own, and so went beyond the 
dullness of Atheism into the perversity of blasphemy, for the 
sake of indulging in which, he condescended to make a Deity. 
The man who could thuik tnus and act thus, had a vigor of his 
own. Proudhon can clothe his sophisms in powerful language ; 



272 PROUDHON'S VIEWS. 



he is a very nervous writer, one who imposes on himself no less 
than on others. 

When this M. Proudhon ascended the tribune on the 31st of 
July, to develop the strange financial scheme described in the 
sketch of M. Thiers, the author of the maxim that property is 
robbery, and others on sacred subjects, that could not, with due 
regard to the reader's feelings, be repeated, he was looked at with 
curiosity, as a human phenomenon. The world had heard of 
Abbe de Mablys and Babous, of Atheists, Communists, and Rev- 
olutionists ; but any thing like a Proudhon had never been 
heard of or seen before. His external appearance had nothing, 
however, of a remarkable character. He is a stout-made man, 
of about forty years of age ; his head is good ; he has fair hair, 
and not in abundance ; is not florid or pale ; his features are 
plain, his upper lip rather protruding ; dresses with propriety ; 
and altogether, he looks, through his spectacles, very like a 
Scotch mechanic about to give an amateur lecture on some 
branch of physics — such is the outer man of the terrible destroyer 
Proudhon. His speech, which he read, was a defense of Social- 
ism, and his plan for renovating society with which a good 
portion of it was taken up, may be briefly described. 

The problem which he sought to solve was, he said, the droit 
du travail ; and he considered that labor might be guaranteed 
to all men if an unlimited consumption could be secured. In 
other words — if, from the extent of consumption, labor should be 
in the greatest possible request, then the State might safely guar- 
antee labor to all. Looking at the boundless wants of highly civ- 
ilized society, it was evident that if the people had only means to 
satisfy all their wants, consumption would be without limit. The 
faculty of a nation's power of expenditure might be estimated 
from that of a rich man, who, in the gratification of his tastes, 
was able to lay out almost any amount of money. He repudiated 
altogether the notion of a partition of property, for he recognized 
the correctness of the calculation, that if all the possessions of the 
country were partitioned among the inhabitants, there would not 
be more than fifteen sous for each, per day. M. Proudhon would 
accordingly rafse the wealth of the country to ten times its pres- 



PROUDHON'S VIEWS. 273 



ent amount, so that there would be for each man's daily expend- 
iture, ten times as much as he has now. What then, he asked, 
was it that prevented this taking place ? The answer was found 
in the new character which property had assumed in modern 
days, and which was its circulating form. A man's effects were 
in convertible securities, so that whatever impeded circulation, 
caused general loss. The impediments to circulation were of four 
kinds : — 

1st. The exclusive use of gold and silver as instruments of 
exchange. 

2d. The interest payable for its use, by the borrower to the 
lender. 

3d. By the assimilation of all sorts of capital, with machinery 
and land, to money, so that the instruments by which man pro- 
duced were all, like money, submitted to payment of interest. 

4th. That, in fine, this fascination which gold had for men, led 
to this consequence, that instead of men producing for sake of 
spending according to the measure of labor, they produced for 
sake of hoarding up gold, and capital ; so that by means of this 
accumulation they might exempt themselves from labor, live with- 
out producing, and make the operation lost for them. 

He drew from these propositions the conclusion, that while 
France produced only ten milliards, there was a fourth of this 
sum, under pretext of savings, subtracted from circulation, and 
so far useless in causing consumption, and remaining stagnant 
Thus every farthing lying in Savings' Banks, or other Banks, 
was, according to M. Proudhon, so much power of production 
and consumption lost, and, as it were, so much taken from the 
general sum of wages, and from the comforts of the people. As 
a consequence of this discovery, he was led to the idea of forming 
a " Bank of Exchange." Now let us pause here to ask, what is 
a Bank of Exchange ? It means this, that a depot is opened in 
which a manufacturer or producer of any kind, can at once place 
his productions, which being useless to himself for immediate pur- 
poses, may at once be exchanged for some other sort of produc- 
tion of which he stands in immediate need. Gold and silver 
money being abolished and put on the footing of marketable com- 



274 PROUDHON'S VIEWS. 



modities, the producer might at once take the articles he requires 
in Ueu of his own, which would be simple barter, or receive some 
note, or paper sign of value, which he would take to the shop of 
some other producer, and help himself accordingly. 

We find, then, that money being abolished, a commercial prin- 
ciple of hitherto recognized power becomes abolished also — for 
price is no longer regulated by demand : how can it be, when 
supply is told that it can not, do what it will, reach the ravenous 
consumption created by the Exchange Bank. We arrive, how- 
ever, at one fact — there must be paper money ; and as paper 
money may be made to any amount, there need be no want of 
that commodity, at all events. When the maker of any thing, a 
hat, or pair of shoes, for example, goes to the Exchange Bank, it 
is a settled point that he has only to ask for the price, receive it, 
go to the baker, receive bread, and a smaller note in change, and 
be joyful. But when the hat is presented for the note, who is to 
settle the value of the hat ? Is it the banker ? Now the bank- 
er has no interest in the matter, for all interest is abolished as 
hurtful to circulation. How, it must still be asked, is the value 
of the hat, or pair of shoes to be ascertained ? When there was 
a gold and silver currency, the sign was at once found and could 
be expressed on paper. We may suppose that the hatter, before 
he brings his hat, would make an inventory of his domestic wants, 
and say, give me so much bread, so much meat, so much drink ; 
would he then receive in exchange, a bread note, meat note, 
milk note, &c. ? which he might take to the baker, butcher, 
&c., &c. 

This he should do ; for let us suppose that in this bazaar, the 
Bank of Exchange, he could find these several articles against his 
hat. Yet if accounts be kept at all, there should be entries of 
exchange, and exchange of notes from one hand to another, and 
from one counter to another. 

The system, so far as we have gone, or can see through it, 
would seem to dispense with foreign trade ; for gold and silver 
ceasing to circulate as money, would soon disappear ; it need not 
be imported, for it would not be wanted, and its exportation in 
abundance would soon take place, through the demand of foreign- 



PROUDHON'S VIEWS. 275 



ers ; and it would follow, that as none need such riches, with a 
view of hoarding up, so none need run the risks and hardships of 
sea voyages, for sake of seeking articles to exchange for matters 
of present necessity or enjoyment. The system supposes, there- 
fore, an exclusive home dealing. The Bank being established, 
the object to be obtained would be universal comfort. There 
would be no rich, and no poor — or rather all would be rich in 
the enjoyment of a full return for the utmost amount of the prod- 
ucts of industry ; and as a man's children after liim, would 
through life have all that they could enjoy, with the assurance 
of similar abundance for their children after them, it would, in 
point of fact, arrive at the same point, as if property descended in 
direct inheritance. Such is a general idea of the Bank of Ex- 
change, which, if we did not endeavor to explain, the speech of 
M. Proudhon, that we are more immediately considering, would 
not be intelligible. Coming to the proposition on which M. 
Thiers had made the report to which we have already referred, 
he said that the demand he had made, to have rents reduced a 
third, debts reduced a third, payments of interest and salaries a 
tliird, was for the sake of creating an immediate and temporary 
fund, while putting into operation his great Socialist plan of a 
Bank of Exchange ; and as he considered that the Revolution 
of February was the breaking up of the old society, and the 
inauguration of a new, he proposed to proceed forcibly with his 
scheme — and this, he said, is the sense of my proposition. It is 
from the Moniteur that the following is extracted. 

1st. Authoritative announcement to property, and to the bour- 
geois class, of the sense and object of the Revolution of Feb- 
ruary. 

2d. Alternative addressed to property, to proceed to a social 
wind up {liquidatioji), and at the same time to a contribution on 
its part to the revolutionary work ; or the proprietors shall be 
rendered responsible for the consequences of their refusal, and 
under all reserves. 

Several members cried out, " Comment I sous tons reserves I 
Explain yourself" 

M. Dupin " It is clear enough I Your purse or your life ! '* 



276 PROUDHON'S VIEWS. 



Here was an explosion of angry interruption, after which M. 
Proudhon said, " It signifies that in case of refusal we will our- 
selves proceed to their liquidation without you." (Violent mur- 
murs). 

Numerous Voices. — " You ? Who are you ?" (Agitation). 

M. Ernest de Girardin. — " Do you mean the guillotine ?" 
(Questions are addressed to the speaker from ail sides). 

The President. — " I invite every one to silence. The orator 
has a right to explain his meaning." 

M. Proudhon. — "When I made use of the pronouns you and 
ive, it is evident that I identified myself with the proletarial, 
and that I identified you with la classe bourgeoise.'' (New ex- 
clamations). 

M. de St. Priest. — " It is social war." 

A Member. — " It is the 23d of June at the tribune." 

Several Voices. — " Let him go on, let him speak." 

It is not necessary to pursue the day's proceedings further. 
M. Thiers, in order to express his own and the Assembly's con- 
tempt for the speaker, disdained to make any reply ; and on a 
division it was found that only one individual, a M. Greppo, 
voted with M. Proudhon. 

The m.anner of this gentleman while delivering a speech that, 
from its extremely subversive and revolutionary character, threw 
the Assembly into fits of fury, was not only calm but heavy, and 
had nothing in it of a studiously offensive character. Resting 
for the most part on both hands spread out, and with his eyes 
fastened on the calculations before him, he would utter in his 
soft voice some astounding expression, and when the murmurs of 
his hearers had warned him of the shock he had given their feel- 
ings, he would look up with the most innocent surprise, assure 
them that what he was saying was for their good, that it was 
unfortunate for them if they failed in understanding him, and 
then resume his dissertation with steady monotony. There is in 
this singular man a strange compound of ?tawete and rudeness, 
prodigious pride, a self-opinion that repels all shade of suspicion 
of his own possibility of error, while he has no sort of coincidence 
■with the views of other men. He sits on the mountain, by the 



PROUDHON. 277 



side of his one simple worshiper, M. Greppo. The Montagnards 
are the butt of his sarcasm, on account of the emptiness of their 
plans, and the vulgar barrenness of their violent notions. He 
and Pyat exchanged blows one day, and the philosopher was 
obliged to place himself in what he felt to be the ridiculous atti- 
tude of a fire-eater. 

Proudhon's account of himself is, that before he set out for 
Paris he acted as clerk in a commercial house at Lyons. While 
in that capacity, in the year 1847, he watched with anxiety 
what appeared to him the "blind and passionate struggle" which 
the Opposition party, under Odilon Barrot and Thiers, had com- 
menced against the Conservative party, represented by the King 
and M. Guizot. At that time the Pv-epublican party formed but 
a feeble minority, which threw its weight into the Opposition side 
of the scale. So far from sympathizing with the Opposition, 
this observer saw with dread the first reform banquet take place, 
for he was shrewd enpugh to perceive that should the Conserva- 
tive party succumb, there opened a gloomy vista of suffering for 
the working classes, in whose fate he, as a Socialist, felt the deep- 
est interest. His acquaintance with the feelings of the workino^ 
classes, to which he himself belonged, and the nature of liis own 
studies and writings, convinced him that the result would be 
different from what the Opposition aimed at, for that the throne 
and society would fall together. The greatest anguish took pos- 
session of him, from which even the death of his mother could 
not divert his feelings, and he learned how far country is above 
family, so that, to use his own characteristic classical illustration, 
he could comprehend Regulus and Brutus. 

He came to Paris. Republican in the college, the workshop, 
and the office, he trembled, he tells us, at the blindness of his 
friends, who failed to see that the Republic was so near. His 
cause of fear was, that the event should come prematurely, and 
before the idea had been matured, according to which the new 
society would be formed. Whatever faith Republicans might 
have had, they were deficient in science. Criticisms on the 
state of society had appeared in abundance, but they were vague, 
sentimental, and mystic ; and out of the declamatory chaos no 



278 PROUDHON. 



light had broken. The daily press said nothing about Socialism, 
and the general reader had thought nothing of the question. 
And yet — but we must quote his own expressions, they are so 
characteristic of the man : — 

" And yet the Revolution, the Republic, Socialism, the one 
supporting the other, were coming in strides ! I saw them. I 
touched them. I fled before the democratic and social monster, 
of which I could not explain the enigma. An inexpressible ter- 
ror froze my soul, so as to deprive me even of thought. I cursed 
the Conservatives, who laughed at the rage of the Opposition ; 
and I cursed even more the Opposition, which with blind fury 
was tearing up the foundations of society ; and I implored my 
friends to abstain from taking part in a mere question of prerog- 
ative, which was leading without preparation to the Republic. 
I was neither believed nor comprehended. I wept for the poor 
operative, whom I saw doomed to idleness, and to many years' 
misery — that poor operative to whose defense I had devoted 
myself, and whom I would be unable to succor. I wept for the 
bourgeoisie that I saw ruined, driven to bankruptcy, excited, 
against the proletarial ; and yet I should be obliged, by the an- 
tagonism of ideas and the force of circumstances, to combat that 
class which I was disposed to pity." 

In fine, he mourned because the fact was coming before the 
idea ; as if Providence, contrary to rule, meant this time to strike 
before warning. All seemed to him, therefore, frightful, unex- 
ampled, paradoxical. It was on this account, and because of 
his devouring anxiety, that, to again use his own language, " I 
blamed the Sicilians for their revolt against a detested master ; 
I became irritated with the Pope for his thoughtless liberality, 
for which he is now paying the penalty of exile ; I disapproved 
of the insurrection of the Milanese, offered up vows for the Son- 
derbund, and I — disciple of Voltaire and of Hegel that I was — I 
applauded M. de Montalambert pleading before an aristocratic 
chamber the cause of the Jesuits of Fribourg." 

On the 21st of February he exhorted his friends not to com- 
bat ; on the 2 2d he breathed freely as he saw the Opposition 
going to beat a retreat. The evening of the 23d dissipated his 



PROUDHON. 279 



illusions ; the firing before the hotel of the Minister of Foreign 
Afiairs changed his feelings in a moment, and he became filled 
with revolutionary enthusiasm. He was no longer the same 
man ; he resolved on taking an active part in the Revolution. 
He repaired to the office of the Reforme paper, and, with his 
own hands, set up a portion of a proclamation, drawn up by 
Flocon, in which the dethronement of Louis-Philippe was de- 
clared. Having done this, he took his gun and sallied out to a 
barricade. The Revolution being completed, he returned to his 
chamber and gave himself up to reflection ; the result of his 
meditations was, that the problem to be solved was the organiza- 
tion of labor. He gives Louis Blanc the credit of having been 
the first to pose this question. To himself, Proudhon resolved the 
solution, which he has found in his plan for an organization of 
credit and of circulation, or, in plain terms, his Exchange Bank. 
But those who would think that so prosaic a conclusion was a 
great falling off from such exalted sentiments as we have been 
copying and describing, view the matter differently from our 
philosophic speculator. Hear him : — 

" I form an enterprise which has never had its equal, and 
which none shall ever equal. I desire to change the basis of 
society, to displace the axis of civilization, to make the world, 
which has hitherto, under the impulse of the Divine Will, turned 
from west to east, move henceforward by the will of man, from 
east to west. To effect this, it only requires that the relations 
between labor and capital shall be reversed, in such wise, that 
the former, which has always obeyed, may command, and that 
the latter, which has commanded, may obey." 

This inversion of the order of labor and capital is to be 
eflected by the Bank of Exchange, in the way already attempt- 
ed to be described. The autobiography of Proudhon is instruct- 
ive. Here is a man destined for mechanical pursuits. The 
GaXignani newspaper states that he was a stay-maker ; his own 
account of his exploit at the Reforme office on the day of the 
Revolution, would imply that he was a working printer. Des- 
tined, however, for the workshop, he is sent to college, where he 
became a disciple of Voltaire. It is said, that without any pre- 



280 PEOUDHON. 



vious knowledge of Hegel, he divined the German's scheme of 
philosophy. It does not appear that at college he received any 
religious instruction, and, as it mostly happens in human affairs 
that we take no notice of danger until it becomes incarnated 
in some excessive example — it wanted the appearance of this 
strong perverted genius to prove that the system of education 
carried on in the school of the university is as defective, in a re- 
ligious point of view, as the clergy have long represented it to 
be. The lads come out of the college disciples of Voltaire. 
With faculties stimulated by education, a young man like Proud- 
hon is doomed to some mechanical employment, which he de- 
spises, throws it up for a clerkship in some mercantile concern, 
because it is more gentlemanly, becomes the oracle of some Club, 
finds the discontented embers of the working classes strewed 
about him, and resolves upon making himself a name out of the 
ruins of society. He is highly taught, and he is full of sensibil- 
ity. Jean Jacques Rousseau and he make acquaintance. Bound- 
less love and exaggerated misanthropy blend strangely in his 
bosom, and give birth to paradox. His love for one class covers 
his hatred against another. The clerk of the merchant comes 
into disagreeable proximity with his employer ; his feelings are 
tried and his pride is hurt by thousands of unconscious ways, 
and learning to dislike the author of his mortification, he ex- 
tends his hatred to the class. Pride loves also to show its con- 
descension ; to stoop to the lower orders ; to open the ears of the 
people ; win admiration by superior endowments, more appreci- 
ated by such than by those above them ; to win afiection by 
sympathy, is gratifying even to pride. Allies are formed against 
the bourgeoisie ; the leader has troops of followers. Behold the 
solitary in the midst of the world's business ; his leisure hours 
are given to the philosophy of the last century, with its materi- 
alism, and to the dreamy speculation of German mystics. His 
mind becomes compounded of both ; the one has prepared the 
denial of God, the other prompts His being insulted. Where 
there is paradox, there is no longer simplicity. There is an 
aspiration after originality, but the originality is generally no 
more than a compound or patchwork of separate errors or follies 



PROUDHON. 281 



of the human miiid. The Mmerva that springs from the head 
is a monster — a prodigy — that could only be taken for a God 
through the fumes of revolutionary intoxication, and in the mo- 
ment of popular madness : of the truth of this, the sentiments 
of Proudon afford a striking example. To proclaim himself a 
Deist would not have been origmal ; to proclaim himself an 
Atheist would be no more than many Encyclopaedists in the last 
century had done. But by some singular fashion to do both, 
and draw correspondingly strange conclusions, ah I that, indeed, 
would be original. Now, how does Proudhon accomplish this 
act ? He acknowledges the existence of God — so did Rousseau, 
whose style this gentleman has copied in the passages quoted ; 
but Rousseau, who was disgusted with the irrational materialism 
of Helvetius and others, having demonstrated to the satisfaction 
of his mind, in an admirable metaphysical paper — the "■ Profes- 
sioii de foi clu vlcaire Savoyard,'' that the world was the handi- 
work of an intelligent Being, he logically concluded that a Being 
who loved order, could not have loved vice or misery, Avhich is 
disorder and discord, and so he arrived at the double inference 
of his justice and goodness, and of man's liberty of action. Had 
the mind of Rousseau been of a more sober cast, he would never 
have spoiled the operation of his subtle thoughts, by indulgence 
in excessive sentimentality ; still he did not stultify himself; 
when he arrived at belief in God, it was belief in a good God. 
Proudhon believes in a God, but by a strained effort at perverse 
originality, he has fancied that — which, if found among savages, 
would be regarded as the last degree of barbarism — he has cre- 
ated a bad God. Savages, smitten with such a monstrosity, 
would have worshiped from fear ; but Proudhon blasphemes and 
insults. He paints his God, not as the enemy of man, for such 
an admission of power, not accompanied by complete destruc- 
tion, or the deprivation of all enjoyment, would be inexplicable 
inconsistency, and so he dwindles Him down to a rivalry with 
the creature. He calls God the rival of man, and promulgates 
the doctrine that man is happy in despite of His efforts to the 
contrary. Such is the imbecile absurdity of this man, who has 
matched his own theology with the other famous discovery that 



282 PROUDHON. 



property is robbery. This latter dogma he has, however, denied, 
or rather explained away ; and yet the famous Exchange Bank 
has been invented with the avowed purpose of rendering ac- 
cumulation impossible — accumulation being, according to his 
notion, subtractive from the general wealth of society, that 
ought to be in constant circulation, and not being in circulation, 
so much robbed from society ; and so, logically and conclusively, 
property became, according to the new process of reasoning, 
robbery. 

Now, will it not strike the calm reader that, for the sake of 
arriving at a mere economical system, there was little necessity 
for blasphemy ? One of the Ten Commandments did certainly 
stand in the way of M. Proudhon. If property be robbery, there 
is an end of theft as a crime. The command of Proudhon's 
mouth would be. Thou shalt steal. Religion stands in the way 
of this new system, which is to invert the order of nature, and 
make the earth travel in a contrary course. If God be malevo- 
lent, then all his divine commands must have been aimed with 
the view of thwarting the poor creature, of whom he is described 
to be the jealous rival. All the Commandments must accord- 
ingly be inverted, and after Thou shalt steal, m.ust come. Thou 
shalt commit adultery. Thou shalt murder. Thou shalt covet. 
Sins becomes virtues, and crimes laudable actions. 

Truly M. Proudhon does effect his preliminary chaos before he 
creates order by a semi-system of pawnbroking and barter, worked 
through his newly-invented assignats, for which he need not claim 
a patent. And yet this man is not to be despised. It is true 
that in the Assemibly he is isolated. Yes, he has one follower, 
M. Greppo. There is a French proverb that the greatest fool 
finds un plus sot qui V admire. Quixote had a Sancho Panza. 
A hand unseen strewed flowers on the tomb of Nero. Erato- 
stratus, after a couple of thousand years, has a disciple in Proud- 
hon. With the exception of Greppo, there is no friend of 
Proudhon even on the benches where once sat Barbes. The 
Vaudeville Theater showed him every night for three months, 
in his dress and spectacles, for the laughter of crowded audiences ; 
and yet Proudhon is the hero of the faubourgs. 



PROUDHON. 283 



Had the insurgents of June planted the bomiet rouge on the 
guillotine, the arms of the New Repubhc, it is M. Proudhon who 
would have been elected finance minister. He is the incarnation 
of the wild spirit that is abroad. There is an awful sublimity 
in his blasphemy, a dreamy, mystic grandeur in his subversion 
of society, that pleases the ill-taught, mistaught, over-stimulated 
workman. He holds to the class by his origin, and even by 
his sensibility. He impersonates the pride and envy that have 
turned to hatred against those who have easier modes of exist- 
ence. His exaltation of labor into a stupendous exchange system 
strikes the imagination. There is, in fine, such a practical cov- 
ering given to paradox, such promises of enjoyment, such deifica- 
tion of man, and such tumultuous work in the way of devising, 
scheming, revolutionizing, ruining, overthrowing, and upraising, 
that the bewildered denizens of the faubourgian Clubs, fancying 
that they see clearly, fall down and worship the evil spirit who 
shows the workman all the kingdoms of the earth for his dom- 
ination. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

M. CONSIDERANT, 

This gentleman is not so robust a controversialist as M. 
Proudhon. When he was challenged to meet M. Thiers at the 
tribune of the National Assembly, he asked permission to develop 
his doctrines in the smaller salle of the old Chamber of Deputies, 
on four successive evenings. His request was not acceded to, and 
M. Considerant had recourse to his pen, for a revelation to the 
world of the beauties of Phalansterianism. Victor Considerant 
has the picturesque exterior suited to the first loving disciple of 
the founder of a sect. He is to Fourier what Melancthon was 
to Luther. The founder thunders at abuses, shakes down the 
walls, causes lofty seats to topple, and is, in the eyes of an af- 
frighted world, a harsh and grim destroyer. To some mild, 
enthusiastic, studious pupil he reveals, in the genial solitude of 
his home, and in well-seasoned table-talk, the depths of tender- 
ness and love, which form the real springs of outer indignation. 
Captivated with such teachings, and imbued with such revela- 
tions, the mild pupil becomes the testamentary executor of the 
great will, which he performs with faithfulness and devotion. 
M. Considerant is tall and slight. His pale features bear the 
marks of study, and, with his abundant dark hair arranged with 
some view to effect, make what, in the language of painters, 
would be called a good head. His dress has a certain priestly 
cut ; and, should the Phalanstere ever be erected on the banks 
of the Loire — according to that captivating design exhibited at 
the Phalange Office, within a door of the house where Voltaire 
was born, on the quay that bears that witty scoffer's name — 
Victor Considerant, the opposite of Voltaire in all things, will 
look, as he paces through its pleasant gardens and orchards, or 
along its social halls, the sentimental, mystical, philosophical 
genius of so happy a place. Considerant speaks fluently and 



CONSIDERANT. 285 



well ; but when it is laid clown that the student of Fourier 
must, in order to become acquainted with his system, go through 
several volumes, beginning with Fourierism-made-easy-books, 
general treatises, commentaries, preliminaries, etc., before he can 
venture to enter the bewitching labyrinth of the Phalanstere, 
then M. Considerant stands excused for having asked four nights' 
revelations in that quiet cemetery in which lies hushed the spirit 
of the old Charter of 1830. 

However mistaken Considerant may be, he is not to be classed 
with the coarse mob of revolutionists that, with a torch in one 
hand to burn, and a knife in the other to slay, have made the 
Socialism of the year 1848 a spell of horror instead of a word of 
goodness and peace. A little tract, published by this gentleman 
in 1847, under the title of "Principles of Socialism; or Mani- 
festo of the Democracy of the Nineteenth Century," contams so 
fair a resume of his views, that we shall endeavor to offer a gen- 
eral outline of its contents. Like all Socialists, the author finds 
the root of misery in unlimited competition and the tjrranny of 
capital. Taking a rapid view of past history, he finds that the 
societies of antiquity had fm'ce for principle and law, ivar for 
policy, and conquest for end ; while their economical system was 
expressed by the word slavery. The feudal system was not less 
one of war and conquest, with slavery modified into serfage, 
owing to the humane sentiment that came with the first rays of 
Christianity. The new order of society disengaged from the feudal 
system, rests upon common law and the Christian principle of the 
unity of all races in humanity, from whence sprung the political 
principle of the equal rights of citizens in the State ; and this 
spirit he calls the Democratic. 

The pruiciple that all citizens are equal before the law, and 
entitled alike to fill all public functions, having been proclaimed 
by the Revolution of 1789, it did so happen that, for a length 
of time, the democratic principle was unfortunately identified 
with all that was revolutionary. That a new organization of 
society in harmony with this principle of equality must take 
place, is laid down as the great task of the present age. There 
is, as yet, no rule or direction for industry. The old corporations 



286 CONSIDERANT. 



have been swept away, which, under the old system, gave organ- 
ization to trade and manufactures : but no new organization 
havino" replaced the past, the fact comes to this, that there is no 
organization at all. There exists the most absolute laissez-faire ; 
and the consequence is, the most anarchical competition, and the 
subjugation of industry to capital. 

There results, as a further consequence from this state of 
things, that while political rights are theoretically possessed by 
all, a new aristocracy has arisen, a financial moneyed aristocracy, 
who monopolize every advantage, while the masses of the people 
are reduced to misery. Absolute liberty without organization, 
means the absolute abandonment of the unprovided masses to the 
discretion of the few who are amply provided with every thing. 

Having established the general truth of the preponderance of 
this new moneyed aristocracy, he comes to the competition that 
exists among the working classes, who, forced to find employment 
or starve, are obliged to underbid each other in the labor market, 
so that wages have fallen, and will continue to fall until the last 
point of reduction is reached consistent with the bare necessities 
of existence. For this, he does not blame the masters ; for, owing 
to competition, each is obliged to produce at the lowest attainable 
rate, and one man could not afford to pay higher wages than his 
rival. » 

Thus it is, that the odious mechanism of unlimited competition ' 
breaks down all laws of justice and humanity— for it has this 
execrable character, that it is everywhere and always depreciat- 
ing to wages. It is not only against one another that workmen 
have to contend in the labor market, they have to struggle against 
machinery which can do the labor of one man a hundred times 
over. 

The same spirit of competition which has reduced the working 
classes, is also ruining the middle, where the great property or 
capital is devouring the little. Society is, then, tending to a 
division into two great classes — the smaller number possessing 
nearly all, and overruling commerce and industry, and the great 
number possessing nothing, and living in absolute dependence on 
the possessors of capital. This situation is not, he says, peculiar 



CONSIDERANT. 287 



to France, but is the social phenomenon, which characterizes 
modern civilization. 

Proceeding further, he shows that this new moneyed aristocracy 
has become the master of kings and governments ; and looking 
at what took place last year, it is with some respect for the 
author's sagacity that we read the following passage : — " Eh 
hieii; it is certain that if the wisdom of governments, of the intel- 
ligent and liberal bourgeoisie, and if science itself do not all take 
counsel, the movement which is hurrying our European societies, 
is going straight to social revolutions, and we are marching to an 
European Jacquerie T 

While the rich are becoming more rich, the poor are becoming 
more poor. It is a war between capital and labor in the midst 
of the most tempting and aggravating growth of luxury. 

The author next comes to a consideration of the remedies pro- 
posed, which he classifies under two heads — that of Communism, 
which he denounces as anti-social and illusory ; and that of As- 
sociation, which he adopts as a pacificatory principle. 

Capital, labor, and talent are, according to Considerant — 
borrowing from Fourier — the three elements of production — 
the three sources of wealth, the wheels of industrial mechan- 
ism, the great primitive means of social development. If there 
were a fair division of profits, not in equal degree, but ac- 
cording to a scale that would allow higher remuneration to the 
higher qualities engaged — so much for capital, so much for the 
talent, and so much for the labor — why then, instead of the few 
Avealthy, and the many miserable, there would be general com- 
fort. That is undeniable. By raising the condition of laborers, 
there would be immensely increased consumption at home, and 
with consumption, more manufactures for the home market, and 
more to divide ; with all the moral advantages flowing from the 
substitution of comfort for want and misery. 

M. Considerant, drawing the distinction between Political and 
Social questions, thinks that the former have lost all interest, or 
are merged into the latter, because the former, in so far as they 
concern the relations between people and government, and of 
governments with each other, have become virtually settled. 



288 C0N8IDERANT. 



He notices, as proof of the infatuation of the government, that 
it seems to be totally ignorant of the movement among the people 
of Sociahst doctrines and ideas, and he remarks that, out "of 400 
deputies there are not twenty who know that the people read 
more than the financial aristocracy, and that what they do read 
by hundreds of thousands are works, brochures, and pamphlets, 
in which are agitating, under different forms, the most grave 
and terrible social questions." 

In order to show that this gentleman is not to be confounded 
with the mass of destructionists, so unfortunately notorious for 
the manner in which they would carry out their ambitious views, 
we must quote the following passage, written at a moment when 
he thought the monarchy to be in danger: — "The constitutional 
form, with an hereditary monarch, and an elected chamber, ap- 
pears to us more advanced, more perfect, and more solid, than 
all other forms of government — the Republican form not except- 
ed. But we do not believe, with a certain political school, that 
because we possess a Constitutional Government there must be 
neither truce nor peace in Europe so long as other people will 
not adopt our own form. Leave to other people the care of 
framing such forms as they believe suitable. Their independence 
and dignity are concerned in the question, and nations do not in- 
general observe with satisfaction that their neighbors are busying 
themselves in their affairs." And he belicA'-es in Christianity. 
" Christianity is the great religion of humanity ; Christianity 
^will continue to develop itself more and more. To believe that 
there will be any other religion for humanity than that which 
has revealed to it its proper nature, its unity with all men and 
with God, is an illusion. The individual and collective union 
of men among themselves, and their individual and collective 
union with God — -never will there be for men a more elevated 
religious principle, or any other than that." Again he says :=- 
" Christianity, so far from being dead, was never more living, 
more spread abroad, more generally incarnate in human intelli- 
gence." 

Resuming M. Considerant's doctrines, we find that he is a 
Christian, a Constitutional Monarchyman, a foe to war ; that he 



HIS VIEWS. 289 



is against Propagandism, and interference with other nations or 
their concerns ; that he writes for Frenchmen, and that instead 
of seeking to force an adoption of his system, he is for a com- 
mencement by way of practical experiment, in the hope that 
success in one instance may lead to adoption and imitation. 

A Reformer who presents himself in this way is worthy of 
friendly attention. 

However disreputable or defective the remedies proposed by 
such a man may be, yet some advantage is to be derived from 
attending to his testimony. We have seen that M. Considerant 
knew well what was passing in the minds of the working classes 
before the Revolution of February. He saw the blindness of 
parties to their own danger, and he predicted the Jacquerie, 
which was the spirit of the Insurrection of June, in Paris, and 
the spirit of the outbreaks in many cities of the Continent. 

In considering the principle of association as presented by this 
writer, we have his testimony that if there be not injustice, there 
is a belief in injustice almost as dangerous in its effect. Is it 
true, as he implies, that neither talent nor industry are allowed 
their fair share in the production of wealth ? We must view 
the question principally as relates to France, for it is with a 
knowledge of what is passing in his own country, and for his own 
country that he chiefly labors. 

With regard to England, M. Considerant lies under a mistake 
if he supposes that the same injustice prevails here. If he walked 
into any one of our manufacturing towns, he could have pointed 
out to him individuals in scores who have risen to fortune from 
the humblest walks of life, by the efforts of talent and industry 
united with probity. 

He would see, by throwing his eye along the boards that give 
the names of firms, that the principle of association which he 
prizes so much, is generally acted upon in this country. It is so 
and so and Co., to the end of the chapter. 

Let him inquire into the history of these firms, and he will 
find in most instances, that the junior partners are men who have 
risen without the aid of capital, and solely by merit. And per- 
haps it may be alloM'ed to be stated that if England resisted 

N 



290 ' CONSIDERANT— ASSOCIATION. 

firmly the revolutionary contagion of last year, the chief reason 
might be found in the prevailing sense of justice that operates 
between man and man, and which is so characteristically ex- 
pressed in the proverbial love of fair play, no gross violation of 
which would be long tolerated. 

Association is, however, the grand panacea of Socialists as 
distinguished from Communists. There is a numerous class who, 
with the prevalent disposition of Frenchmen to rely on govern- 
ment, think that it is government that ought to supply the capital 
necessary in the first instance to associations of working manu- 
facturers, until they could gain the requisite capital for them- 
selves. 

This plan supposes the substitution of dividends of profits for 
wages, and it is against such a scheme that M. Thiers directed 
his arguments with so much efiect in that branch of his book on 
property, which embraces the question of association. It is here 
that he shows how often the capitalist loses, fails, or is ruined, 
while the workmen run no risk, for they are paid their wages no 
matter how unprofitable the work may turn out. 

Again, it has been shown that the money which the state 
would be called upon to furnish would be, in point of fact, the 
money of individuals collected in the shape of taxation ; so that, 
should the principle be admitted, it would be the introduction of 
Communism, which has for its object the leveling of all condi- 
tions, by means of the control given to the state. 

- A further objection to the plan, and one dwelt most upon by 
M. Thiers, as applicable to all schemes of a Communist or So- 
cialist kind, is that it applies to only one class of the community 
at large, namely, the workmen in towns, and does not affect the 
farmers and peasantry, so numerically superior, and who are not 
interested in such questions. And here by the way it may be 
remarked, that seeing the disposition of men to become corrupt 
and dangerous when agglomerated in towns, the policy of states- 
men is becoming directed rather toward agricultural improvement 
than manufacturing development ; the former having been miser- 
ably neglected, while the profits of the latter afford small com- 
pensation for the dangers which attend it. Seeing that workmen 



SOCIAL EVILS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 291 

can not do without capital, and that the state can not supply the 
place of the capitalist, it remains to be seen whether the plan 
offered by Considerant and the disciples of Fourier, for combining 
capital, talent, and labor in an organized system of harmonious 
co-operation can be made to succeed. 

The plan of which a trial is to be made by the foundation of 
a model Phalanstere, will, it is said, be put into operation in a 
couple of years. 

From the limited character of these personal sketches, we can 
not go so far out of our way as to enter into an examination of 
such a scheme in all its bearings. It may fail ; but the failure, 
like that of finding the philosopher's stone, or giving the charac- 
ter of science to astrology, may be compensated by unexpected 
solutions of real value. 

Mr. Macaulay, who is no ideologist, looks forward to the day 
when, judging by the advances already made in social improve- 
ment, men will look back to the miseries of Dorsetshire laborers 
with as much astonishment as we at the present day recur to 
the comfortless condition of the upper classes only a couple of 
centuries ago. 

How is this great social advance to be effected ? Is it by 
slow and steadily growing improvement, or is it to be the result 
of some great discovery in the economy of human society ? 
Hitherto professedly Socialist schemes have been marked by im- 
mense pretensions contrasted with poor results. The manifest 
evils and miseries of society afford easy and full scope to the pen 
of the critic. 

When Louis Blanc parades the statistics of corruption, crime, 
and misery, his reader follows the narrator with stifled breath ; 
but when Louis Blanc sets about making a world of his own, 
a child building a card house is a model of wisdom and con- 
structive power, compared with him. What more appalling vul- 
garity in the way of contrast can there be, than is presented by 
Proudhon's blasphemies, and proud pretensions, with his Bank 
Exchange ? Even Fourier has the French way of rushing at 
an absolute conclusion, that destruction is amendment. It is 
told of this remarkable man that it was his indignation and dis- 



292 SOCIAL EVILS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 

gust at the frauds practised in Gommerce, which led him to the 
idea of abolishing commerce altogether, and of placing the pro- 
ducer and the purchaser in direct contact, without the interme- 
diacy of the merchant. Because commerce, honorable itself, 
happened to be disgraced by some rogues, in one particular place, 
a valuable principle is to be abolished altogether. The reign of 
terror men went on in this cauterizing system for the cure of 
abuses by the destruction of the instrument, and yet they did 
not know mankind better. The man is a rogue, not because he 
is a merchant, but because he is a rogue, and would have been 
such in any other employment. How is the evil to be cured, if 
not by curing the disposition when the mind is fresh and tender, 
in other words, by education. And now we touch the vital 
points of the question. The Socialists fancy that men can be 
made virtuous by artificial organizations of society, whereas, the 
Christian and true philosopher would take man by himself, out 
of the way of evil example and of corrupting communication, 
and deal with him alone. It is by separating rather than bring- 
ing together, that purity of mind is to be preserved. Let the 
country bear witness against the town — -the hamlet against the 
purlieus of capital cities. If all men were well brought up, and 
deeply imbued with sound principles, their own sense of right 
would effect, by slow degrees, every advantage possible of attain- 
ment in this world. We may therefore offer to the ready ob- 
jection of the Socialist, that those who oppose all known So- 
cialist plans, are bound to offet sonie remedy, at the hazard of 
a blind and despairing acceptance of the evils of society- — that 
there is a remedy—a very rock-basis of amelioration in well de- 
vised education. Good men will inake good institutions, and 
good education tends to make good men. Education, therefore, 
by all means, and in boundless abundaiice. Let wholesome 
seeds be sown early in the mind and in the heart, and the fruit 
will be self-respect, self-reliance, wholesome thoughts, and healthy 
action. It will be said that Communist writers have been edu- 
"cated men, and it is not unusual to find very high authorities 
quoted, from Plato to Sir Thomas More, and from him to some 
illustrious moderns, to show that genius and learning are not 



MQBB'S UTOPIA, 293 



necessarily infallible guardians of the mind from error. Per- 
haps a sufficient answer might he furnished to this objection, 
and an important lesson drawn from the fact that Commmiist 
writings have most generally appeared, and Communist notions 
prevailed, at periods of great corruption, against which they may, 
one and the other, be taken as signs of reaction. The fact that 
Plato had in view, when he wrote his " Republic," the stern 
virtues of the Lacedemonians, might be advanced as proof that 
he, the idealist imaginer of a pure love, to which is attached the 
immortality of his name, wanted to mark his aversion, for the 
vices of his own time. But without raising a controversy of a 
speculative character, we have to come to his imitator. Sir 
Thomas More, who affords evidence, in his Utopia, that the 
social state of England in his time was such as to have seemed 
to his eyes, very like a, threatened dissolution of society. 

Between the breaking up of the feudal system, under Henry 
VII., and the commercial phase into which England entered after 
the discovery of the new world, there was an intervening period 
when great irregularities prevailed. The nobles entertained ex- 
orbitant establishments ; their idle swarms of servants kept for 
show, and even as means of aggression, exercised the greatest 
violence, and committed all sorts of debauchery at the expense 
of the peasantry and the working people. Agriculture was 
much neglected, while the great proprietors turned their estates 
into sheep walks, on account of the more profitable returns 
given by wool. As the convents were broken up, the misery of 
the people became further swelled, and the consequence followed, 
that the country was overrun with mendicants, robbers, and 
assassins. The picture of Utopia is suggested by the effects of 
the mal-administration of the author's own country ; and if it 
be the pleasant jeit' cV esprit of a scholar, it is not without its 
serious moral. Sir Thomas More shows himself in his work, as 
much beyond his age, as modern Communists are behind ours. 
"What could be more beautiful than the spiritualist maxim of 
the Utopians, so different from that of modern Communists 
whose ideas are of a worldly and sensual kind. " Shim volup- 
tuousness, which prevents the enjoyment of a more exquisite 



294 PHILOSOPHIC COMMUNISM. 



pleasure, or which is followed by pain, for pain is the inevitable 
consequence of illicit indulgence. To despise corporal beauty, 
and the exercise of corporal power, to reduce strength by fasting 
and abstinence, sacrifice health, and in a word repel the favors 
of nature, for sake of devoting one's self to the happiness of 
humanity, in the hope that God will reward the pains of a day 
by eternal transports of joy, is to perform an act of sublime 
religion. While, on the other hand, to crucify the body, and 
sacrifice one's self for a vain phantom of virtue, or for sake of 
preparing one's self for miseries that may never occur, is to do 
an act of stupid folly, and of self-cruelty and ingratitude ; it is 
to trample on the gifts of the Creator, as if the creature disdained 
to owe him any obligation." 

The spirit of Christianity and of classic learning, preserved 
through so many ages of darkness until they came forth together 
at the double revival of religion and letters, breaks out in a form 
which breathes of Plato no less than of the Gospel, There is 
the fanciful organization of the Greek, with the gospel-taught 
self-sacrifice and self-denial, which the material Communists of 
the present day, coarse parodists in all things, have failed to feel 
and appreciate ; so that while they blaspheme God, they mate- 
rialize the spiritual teachings of Christ. The wild Communism 
that broke out after the reformation in Munster, was a sign of 
the disordered state of the times. It was ignorance emancipated 
from mental thraldom, seeking to repay itself for long sufferings 
and neglect. 

Let us come down to the philosophic Communism, of the eight- 
eenth century, and it will be found to be the suggestion of the 
most corrupt period in history — the age of the profligate Regent, 
of the Cardinal Dubois, of Louis XV., and Madame Du Barry, 
of the Mississippi gambling, and the Pare aux Cerfs. It is the ex- 
quisitely sensitive Rousseau, who fulminates a malediction against 
such society, and strikes at property as the foundation on which 
it is built ; then follows the Abbe de Mably, who, as Plato did 
of old, takes the Spartans for his model, and with stern fanat- 
icism, proposes the Lacedemonian Communism, with all its con- 
sequences, in, the hope of recovering Lacedemonian virtues. 



COMMUNISM OF BABOUF. 295 



The Communism of the ancients, it should be remarked, was 
a sort of aristocratic Communism ; for society was divided into 
the free and the slave, the former monopolizing all state employ- 
ments, they only having the privilege of defending the country, 
while on the latter was imposed the drudgery and duties of social 
life : a fact which, well considered, would show that the Com- 
munism of the old world belonged to a state of society that has 
passed away, and never can be revived. The Abbe de Mably 
would, however, have had the stern Spartan Communism im- 
posed on his thoroughly-relaxed countrymen, attaching as a max- 
im, that in religion the state should be intolerant, and not allow 
Atheists or Deists to exist. Instead of blaming the priest for his 
eccentricity, it would be more profitable to regard his somber, 
classical enthusiasm as the sign of a mind filled with horror at the 
aspect of corruption that had reached its lowest stage, and could 
only be cured by a visitation of Providence, or an extraordinary 
effort of man. 

The visitation came, and Robespierre tried to make the con- 
trat social of Jean Jacques Rousseau a practical truth ; but even 
the Convention that sanctioned the reign of terror was not pre- 
pared to go so far. With Robespierre ended the philosophical 
school of Communists, and with Babouf opened the gross, savage 
school, of which the Communists of this day are the worthy dis- 
ciples. Babouf, having settled in his own mind that Commun- 
ism should be the law ; in other words, that the state should be 
masters and the people slaves — for there could be no individual 
property or individual home, no professions or callings, except at 
the dictation of the state, no free will, no liberty of choice — having 
made the individual nothing and the state all, Babouf formed a 
conspiracy, and it is the most horrible conspiracj' on record. The 
conspirators were to have inaugurated their system by wholesale 
pillage, incendiarism, and massacres ; wide waste and terror were 
to pioneer the way to Communism ; and Babouf is the predeces- 
sor of the Blanquis, Barbes, Caussidieres, and the other leaders 
thrown up in the ferment of February. With none of these must 
M. Considerant be confounded. He is no Mokanna or hideous vailed 
prophet, but an amiable experimentalist, who, if he fails — fails. 



CHAPTEil XXXII. 



THE NEWSPAPER PRESS ANTHONY THOUP^ET ENGLISH ALLIANCE 

THE CAMP OF ST. MAUR. 

In the early part of August, some of the journals that had 
been suspended were allowed to appear ; but in a few days after- 
ward the interdict had to be replaced on the majority of those 
to which indulgence had been accorded. A list of the journals 
that appeared between February and June was drawn up by M. 
Panisse, an officer holding a high post in the police. It gives 
171 names of journals ; and as some of those names indicate tiie 
atrocious spirit that prevailed, and so speak, as it were, for them- 
selves, the nomenclature is offered in this place to the reader. 

Journal de la Conseille. 

L'Assemblee Constituanle. 

Archives du Peuple. 

L'Ere Nouvelle. 

L'Apotre du Peuple. 

L'Epoque. 

Le Courier de la Chambre. 

La Republique Rouge. 

Le Pere Andre. 

Le Populaire. 

Le Monde Republicain. 

Robespierre. 

Le Representant du Peuple. 

Les Mysteres de la Bourse. 

La Tribune de la Liberie. 

La Revolution de 1848. 

L' Opinion Publique. 

La Providence. 

Le Courier de Paris. 

La Tribune Populaire. 

La Voix des Femmes. 

L'Unite Nationale. 

Le Radical. 

L'Ami du Peuple. 

Le Volcan. 

Le Journal du Diable. 



1. 

2. 
3. 


L'Impartial. 

Spartacus. 

Le Gamin de Paris. 


24. 
25. 
26. 


4. 


Le Vrai Gamin de Paris. 


27. 


5. 


Le Nouveau Cordelier. 


28. 


6. 

7. 


La Republique. 

Le Moniteur du Soir. 


29. 
30. 


8. 
9. 


L' Esprit du Peuple. 

Le Petit Homme Rouge. 


31. 
32. 


10. 


La Colere duvieux Republicain. 


33. 


11. 


Le Peuple Constituant. 


34. 


12. 


L'Avenir des Travailleurs. 


35. 


13. 


La Vraie Garde Nationale 


36. 


14. 


La Sentinelle des Clubs. 


37. 


15. 
16. 


La Propriete. 

La Commune de Paris, Moni- 


38. 
39. 




teur des Clubs. 


40. 


17. 


La Commune de Paris, Journal 


41. 




Revolutionnaire. La Com- 


42. 


18. 


munede Paris, (Sobrier's Jour.) 
Le Peuple Souverain. 


43. 
44. 


19. 

20. 


Les Saltimbanques. 
La Tribune Nationale. 


45. 
46. 


21. 


La Liberte. 


47. 


22. 


Le Salut Public. 


48. 


23. 


L'Aimable Faubourien. 


49. 



CHEAr NEWSPAPERS 



297 



50. 


Charite et Justice. 


91. 


La France. 


51. 


Joui'nal des Enfans. 


92. 


Jacques Bonhomme. 


52. 


Le Peuple Franfais. 


93. 


L' Organization du Travail. 


53. 


Diogene sansculotte. 


94. 


Le Drapeau National. 


54. 


La L ant erne. 


95. 


Le Bonnet Rouge. 


55. 


La Politique des Femraes. 


96. 


Le Vrai llepubUcain. 


5Q. 


Le Travail; Jom-nal du Club 


97. 


Justice et Verite. 




de la Revolution. 


98. 


L'Independant. 


57. 


Mayeux. 


99. 


Le Napoleonien. 


58. 


La France Libre, 


100. 


L'Aigle Republicaine. 


59. 


La Voix de la Republique. 


101. 


La Redingotc Grise. 


60. 


Lettre du Diable a la Repub- 


102. 


La Bonapartiste Republicain. 




lique. 


103. 


Napoleon Republicain. 


61. 


La Revue Retrospective. 


104. 


Le Petit Caporal. 


62. 


Le Diable Rose. 


105. 


La Constitution; Journal de la 


63. 


Le Bien Public. 




Republique Napoleonienne. 


64. 


Le Drapeau de la Republique. 


106. 


Le Pilori. 


65. 


La Constitution. 


107. 


Journal des Faubourgs. 


66. 


La Vraie Republique. 


108. 


Le Scrutin. 


67. 


Le Pamphlet. 


109. 


Le Salut Social. 


68. 


Le Lampion. 


110. 


La Cause du Peuple. 


69. 


La Verite Periodique. 


111. 


L'Abeille. 


70. 


La Republique des Femraes. 


112. 


Le Soir. 


71. 


La Contemporaine. 


113. 


Les Nouvelles du Soir. 


72. 


La Silhouette. 


114. 


Le Tribun du Peuple. 


73. 


Le Figaro. 


115. 


L'Avant Garde. 


74. 


Le Canard. 


116. 


L'Echo du Peuple. 


75. 


Le Bon Horame Richard. 


117. 


La Constitution. 


76. 


L'Examen. 


118. 


La France Republicaine. 


77. 


Le Diable Boiteux. 


119. 


Les Betises de la Semaine. 


78. 


Le Tocsin du Travailleur. 


120. 


Le Travail. 


79. 


Le Journal des Sans Culottes. 


121. 


L'Ordre. 


80. 


La Mere Duchene. 


122. 


La Republique Franfaise. 


81. 


Le Pere Duchene. Ancien fa- 


123. 


Le Reveil du Peuple. 




bricant des Journaux. 


124. 


Le Conservateur de la Repub- 


82. 


Le Pere Duchene ; Gazette de 




lique. 




la Revolution. 


125. 


Les Pai-oles d'un Revenant. 


83. 


Le Travailleur de la Mere 


126. 


Le Voltigeur. 




Duchene. 


127. 


Le Manifeste des Provinces. 


84. 


Le Petit Fils. 


128. 


L'Esprit National. 


85. 


Les Lunettes du Pere Duchene. 


129. 


La Tribune de 1848. 


86. 


L'Amie Duchene 


130. 


La Faraille. 


87. 


Le Tintamarre. 


131. 


Les Boulets Rouges. 


88. 


L'Accusateur Public. 


132. 


Journal des Ateliers Nationaux. 


89. 


La Carmagnole. 


133. 


La Republique Possible. 


90. 


Les Transactions. 


134. 


Le Flaneur. 



298 



CHEAP NEWSPAPERS. 



135. La Voix des Clubs. 

136. La Presse du Peuple. 

137. La Seance. 

138. Le Courier de Paris. 

139. Le Vieux Cordelier. 

140. La France Nouvelle. 

141. La Conspiration des Pouvoirs. 

142. L'Afrique Fran9aise. 

143. Le Tribunal Revolutionnaire. 

144. Le Revelateur. 

145. Le Scorpion Politique. 

146. Le Courier Republicain. 

147. La Liberte Religieuse. 

J 48. La Propagande Republicaine. 

149. Le Bon Conseil. 

150. Le Petit Glaneur Allemand. 

151. L'Araour de la Patrie. 

152. La Democratic Egalitaire. 

153. Le Banquet Social. 



154. L'Egalite. 

155. La Sentinelle du Peuple. 

156. La Depeche, 

157. Les Droits de 1' Homme. 

158. La Verite. 

159. La Garde Nationale. 

160. Le Patriote. 

161. La Colonne. 

162. Le Courier de I'Assemblee Na- 

tionale. 

163. L'Education Republicaine. 

164. Le Musee du Peuple. 

165. Le Triomphe du Peuple. 

166. Polichinelle. 

167. La Sentinelle des Travailleurs. 

168. L' Alliance des Peuples. 

169. Le Bonheur Public. 

170. L'Incendie. 

171. Le Sanguinaire. 



Such, a swarm of cheap publications, vying with one another 
in their appeals to the lowest sentiments and passions, required 
some check, and the Government resolved upon restoring the 
old system of cautionnement, or lodgment of money by the 
proprietors of journals, by way of security for the payment of 
fines, should such be incurred. The sum, under the monarchy, 
amounted to 100,000 francs ; but the Government of General 
Cavaignac limited its proposal to 24,000 francs. Small as this 
sum was, the principle was vehemently opposed by the Opposi- 
tion, which had ultimately to give way. 

The leader of the Opposition, on this occasion, was M. Anthony 
Thouret, and we must try to sketch this remarkable person. This 
Anthony Thouret is a man of colossal size, and of stupendous grav- 
ity, moral as well as specific. Possessing a giant's strength, he 
does not use it like a giant; for although in possession of the 
tribune, he had hardly begun to speak, when the lappel of his 
coat was plucked by Louis Blanc. When Sir Geofiirey, in Scott's 
« Peveril of the Peak," put his head out of the pie dish, he hardly 
excited more surprise and merriment than did the apparition of 
the smallest champion in Christendom by the side of the largest. 
Louis Blanc claimed precedence ; Anthony Thouret disputed it. 



THOURET. 299 



Never, from the days of David and Goliath, had a more unequal 
match been seen ; and it was David who won — Gohath being 
allowed to carry off his own head, amidst the pleasant laughter 
of the daughters of Israel, who occupied the galleries. After 
Louis Blanc had had his argument, which amounted to this, 
that a restricted press was incompatible with imiversal suffrage, 
Anthony Thouret was allowed to resume his place wdthout dis- 
pute. Like Falstaff, he was the cause of wit in others, or, if not 
of wit, of fun, which is not a bad thing in its way, when inno- 
cent. An actor, once playing a deep part in a tragedy, gave a 
sudden stoop, and the consequence on a portion of his gear was 
so unfortunate, that tears were turned to broad grins. The cur- 
tain fell, the damage was repaired, but there was no possibility 
of getting on ^dth the tragedy for that evening. Thus it hap- 
pened vidth Thouret ; as he had retired amidst laughter, so it was 
that his re-appearance proved a signal for a renewal of the same, 
no one knew why or wherefore. Perhaps it was the look of 
inane gravity painted on the broadest facial canvas on which 
dull simplicity had ever tried its hand ; perhaps it was the voice 
that rolled out in sepulchral volumes ; perhaps it was the look 
and voice together ; perhaps it was the opening chapter of his 
autobiography, in which ]j.e announced that he had been a mar- 
tyr in the cause of the press, for which he had suffered much. 
The amiouncement of suffering was taken as a capital joke, and 
the stupendous martyr was laughed at because he failed in liis 
look of the character. It was Falstaff as E.omeo's Apothecary. 
The speech proved to be a series of axioms, drawn up in that 
sententious form which schoolboys employ on given themes. 
With an air of innocent inexperience, that would have been be- 
coming in sixteen, the man of fifty, with half a stone weight for 
each year, enunciated what he believed to be profound ethical 
discoveries, adorned Avith florid illustrations, both producing the 
effect of novelty by their being common-place. " Thought," he 
said, " was to man what the head was to the body ; cut ofl' the 
head, and (after a long pause) — he dies." Many a waggish tongue 
assured the orator of the undeniable truth of this maxim, as well 
as of many others that he uttered. Anthony Thouret was a great 



300 CAMP OF ST. MAUR. 

[Republican, a terrible Anti-Bonapartist. He spoke from time to 
time, and, to his credit be it said, never displayed gall, although, 
like Liston, he could not show his face without raising a laugh. 

With the revolutionary journals suspended, the clubs severely 
controlled, and Paris in a state of siege, the Parisians began to 
feel more comfortable than they had felt for months. Within 
the Assembly, the old statesmen grew more bold and confi- 
dent. M. Thiers battled with M. Goudchaux on a question 
of taxing mortgages, and beat him. The Commission that had 
been appointed to inquire into the June insurrection, and to ex- 
amine how far the previous conspiracies of March, April, and 
May were connected with that event, presented their report early 
in the month of August, and directly implicated Louis Blanc and 
Marc Caussidiere, who vainly essayed to disprove the accusations 
against them ; but, upon the Assembly having ratified the report so 
far as to sanction the prosecution of these members, the latter fled. 

At this time, Charles Albert had been swept out of Lombardy, 
and M. de Bastide was enabled to announce that England and 
France had joined in a negotiation for bringing the Italian ques- 
tion to a pacific conclusion. Here was the English alliance 
substituted for a Propagandist war, and that by a thorough Re- 
publican Government. In fact, the June insurrection and the 
discoveries made by the Commission 'of Inquiry, had changed 
people's views in an extraordinary manner. The army of the 
Alps, that was to have liberated Italy, was now wanted to lib- 
erate Paris, and was encamped at St. Maur, under the eyes of 
the prisoners of Vincennes. A visit to this camp became the 
Sunday attraction. The white tents, in regular lines, crowned 
the high ground of a beautiful ascending plain. The soldiers, 
flattered by the visits of the citizens, took pleasure in decorating 
the encampment, and the green sod was pressed into the servica 
of pagodas, temples, and ante-rooms, for the sake of ornament, as 
well as accommodation. What with exercises, manoBuvres, and 
reviews, St. Maur became a very agreeable rendezvous ; and in 
this way happy France was led in the chains of martial law to 
the banquet of the Constitution, the general debate upon which 
opened on the 4th September. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

DEBATES ON THE CONSTITUTION ABBE FA YET DEMOCRACY 

FRESNEAU DE TOCQUEVILLE. 

The debates on the Constitution drew out every man of ability 
and eminence in the Assembly. One of the most important dis- 
cussions was the first upon the preamble, v/hich attempted to give 
in a condensed form — a declaration of the rights of man. In this 
preamble was necessarily embraced the question of questions, with 
which, under its compendious title of " Droit aio Travail,'' we 
are by this time sufficiently familiar. As we have already seen, 
a promise of according this right to the workman was hastily 
thrown out by the Provisional Government, before the majority 
of its members had considered what it meant ; it became subse- 
quently the watch- word of the Socialists. If the Republic could 
not realize such a promise, there was no real justification for the 
Revolution of February ; and it could 7iot. 

The Committee which drew up the Constitution had evidently 
looked at the difficulty in every point of view, and could arrive 
at no other conclusion, than that the state owed to necessitous 
citizens a debt of assistance within the Umit of its resources. In 
language still more familiar — the preamble promised a poor law ; 
and to accomplish such a work was neither contrary to the dis- 
position, nor beyond the means of a constitutional monarchy. In 
order to cover a retreat from this engagement of the Republic, 
the author of the Report (M, Marrast) filled the preamble with 
flourishes that exposed his words to some cutting criticism, opened 
by the Abbe Fayet, Bishop of Orleans, the heau ideal of a pro- 
vincial priest. Wherever this httle old man was seen, the smil- 
ing faces in his neighborhood showed that his lively, sarcastic 
remarks were telling ; but like a true priest, as soon as he 
mounted the tribune, he felt as if he were in the pulpit, and in 
order to remind his audience (rather his congregation), that he 



302 ABBE FAYET— MEANING OF DEiMOCRACY. 



was no longer their gay companion, but their monitor, his aspect 
became changed. He could not, it is true, put a mask on his 
round, rosy face, nor keep his sly eye in constant subjection ; but 
his voice did its professional whine, with undeviating, monotonous 
sobriety. Like all clergymen, the good old Bishop was viewed 
with scowling distaste by the philosophical republicans. His 
criticism of the declamatory preamble had the subtilty of the 
professed Casuist. 

He challenged the author to tell him the sense of a democratic 
repubhc, arguing that a republic was a political form given to 
institutions, while democracy meant that the people managed 
directly their own afiairs. 

This line of argument had deeper purpose than was at the 
moment perceived. The clever divine knew well that nothing 
would be more fatal to the republic than an admission of the 
principle of democracy. It was all very well so long as democ- 
racy could be made to mean the town population ; but the 
moment the peasantry were embraced in the word, there was an 
end to the republic, democratic or otherwise. If the Assembly 
abided by the term democratic, and acted upon it, the conse- 
quence logically would be an appeal to the democracy for its 
ratification of the constitution, and the answer to such an appeal, 
might prove doubtful. 

For years the partisans of Henry V. had been challenging an 
appeal to the democracy in the enlarged, that is, the true sense 
of the word, meaning the whole people, and the result of the 
contest for the presidency of the Republic, where a new mon- 
archical competitor was brought into the field, in the person of 
the Heir of the Emperor, showed that the Abbe de Genoude 
(whose Gazette de France was their organ), knew what he was 
doing. 

The Abbe Fayet in seeking to bind the authors of the Con- 
stitution to the term democratic, so as to lay the foundation of 
an appeal to the people, was acting upon the knowledge, which 
he, as a country clergyman, had of the feelings and sentiments 
of the peasantry. M. Dupin repHed, if not with equal subtilty, 
yet in a way to satisfy the majority, who were disposed to be 



FRESNEAU. 303 



easily satisfied ; for not only did all classes of Republicans shrink 
from an appeal to the country, but the Orleanists, a large party, 
were as little inclined to have recourse to such an expedient. 

The Legitimists and the Bonapartists might, with certainty, 
count upon the suffrages of the country people ; but neither of 
these parties was at that moment in much strength in the As- 
sembly ; and even if disposed to combine, they could not force 
the majority to accept the fair consequences of their recognition 
of the democracy by an appeal to the people for its judgment in 
their work. To the surprise of the Assembly, a new adversary 
appeared in the field, in the person of a dark slight young gentle- 
man (M. Fresneau), who, in one of the ablest speeches that had 
been made in the house, attacked the whole preamble with 
remarkable vigor. The calmness and self-possession — the close 
reasoning and sound sense evinced by the debutant, clearly 
marked him out as a man who will yet distinguish himself in 
public life. He argued that political axioms were idle and 
inapplicable, rather they were worse, for the manner of their 
being carried out by laws, would be the subject of eternal ques- 
tion and controversy. With a preamble in his hand declaratory 
of rights, a person might accuse the law of want of full accord- 
ance with the principles laid down, or of failure and insufliciency ; 
he might quote the preamble against the law and take his stand 
upon it. 

Referring to former declarations of rights, he showed, they had 
all failed, and he quoted the ludicrous instance of a declaration 
that domesticity was abolished. There were to be no more 
domestics, for " domesticity was to be the exchange of good 
offices and recompenses." It was impossible to arrive at accurate 
definitions of political rights and duties. They were not aware 
of the engagements they were undertaking, with regard to rights 
of labor and other rights ; and he would accordingly recommend 
that there should be no preamble, but that the Assembly should 
enter at once, practically and without preface, upon the articles 
of the Constitution. This view was not adopted. 

We have now to introduce another of that thoughtful school 
of young men who, like the children of unfortunate parents, have 



304 DE TOCQUEVILLE. 



been cradled in fearful reminiscenes of the first revolution, and 
inspired with premature wisdom. 

M. de Tocqueville must have been a very young man when 
he produced that work on Democracy in America, which raised 
him at once to eminence as a politician and philosopher. He 
looks a young man still ; and as he sits buried in thought, the 
eye of the spectator can not fail to settle upon him with inquiry. 
A Socialist member,' M. Mathieu, raised directly the question of 
droit au travail; and, in replying to him, M. de Tocqueville 
entered at once on the question of Sociahsm. The mind of this 
gentleman is of an eminently reflective character. It repels no 
fact. It passes by no circumstance as unworthy of attention. 
There is rather the contrary tendency to admit nothing to be 
ephemeral, fleeting, local, or accidental. Each fact is regarded 
as in itself a phenomenon — a witness of a state of things the 
meaning of which is to be sought, or prophetic of som.ething 
coming, for which m.an ought to be prepared. 

A habit of mind like this may degenerate into disease ; but 
within due bounds, and under due control, it is most valuable. 
When we say disease, we mean that a disposition may be formed 
of fastening the mind too much on all sorts of facts, and of giving 
too much consequence to what may be trivial. 

There are persons who, sooner than not give an answer to an 
inquiry, will invent one ; but the inquirer who would take the 
false answer for a fact, and draw general consequences from it, 
would fall into a gross error. Some instances of this kind might 
be found in the work on, Democracy in America ; as, for instance, 
when the author asking a sailor why the Americans built ships 
of materials that do not last, received for answer, that they did 
so because of the constant changes and improvements in shipping. 
Whereupon the author descants most ingeniously — how no one 
would choose inferior materials for building if better for the same 
money could be found at hand. The sailor was a patriot, and 
fancied he gave a reason that redounded to the honor of his 
country, by assigning to foresight, the sins of bad wood ; but a 
stranger might conclude that the navy was hectic rather than of 
florid beauty, indicative of soundness and health. An example 



DE TOCQUEVILLE. 305 



of this kind reveals the exaggeration of a habit good in itself. 
The value of this habit is best proved by the effects of a contrary- 
disposition. 

Take a people who work much, become prosperous by work, 
and, having but little time, reflect but little ; and yet such a peo- 
ple, wise in their own conceit; fall into the error of looking at all 
circumstances as local, and not indicative of a deep-seated state 
of things, requiring to be looked into and patiently provided for. 
Whatever be the state of things, it is the result of a number of 
causes ; and as there is constant transition in society, although 
it escape general attention, the mind which can seize hold of 
such causes, and mark whither they are tending, must be acute, 
and the product of its observation ought to prove of eminent 
advantage. Such a mind is that possessed by M. de Tocqueville. 

When the first part of his work on America appeared some 
fourteen years ago, it commanded general attention, especially 
in England, because it was considered that the author, hav- 
ing left his own country with strong democratic tendencies, 
was converted to Conservatism by the example presented by the 
workings of Democracy in the United States. Sir Robert Peel, 
at the famous Glasgow Conservative dinner, in 1836, made 
great use of the French philosopher's evidence. Yet it may be 
doubted if the latter had discarded any old convictions. In truth, 
the convictions of such a mind become attached more to general 
principles than to party views. M. de Tocqueville saw, both 
from what he knew of Europe and had witnessed in America, 
that society was tending every where toward Democracy ; and 
with this conviction on his mind, it behoved him to examuie 
whether that tendency was for good or for evil ; and it would 
probably be more just to say, that instead of absolutely arriving 
at the latter of the two alternatives, he labored to point out how 
evil might be prevented by the conservation of all that was good 
in the old society. This view appears plain enough in the sec- 
ond part of the work published m 18-10, which is full of the most 
sagacious observations. In this work he points out, with unde- 
niable truth, that social equahty, which is in fact the overruling 
passion of Democracy, leads to a general desire for worldly pos- 




306 DE TOCQUEVILLE. 

session, for sake of equal respectability and equal enjoyment ; 
and yet, on this very account, he labors to show the necessity 
that thus exists for employing the coimteracting effects of re- 
ligion. 

That general thirst for worldly enjoyment which attaches to 
democratic equality, brings with it dangers of a political kind — 
for as all that is requisite for the guarantee of such enjoyment is 
that order shall be preserved, the strong hand that can best pre- 
serve order will be sure to be preferred. M. de Tocqueville saw 
that there were line peculiarities belonging to an aristocratic state 
of society, the parting with which he could not but deplore ; but 
seeing that the tendency to another form was inevitable, he essayed, 
in a truly wise spirit, to point out the elements of weakness in 
democracy with their antidote, which he found in the encourage- 
ment of a religious education. 

It may be necessary to explain the relation that exists be- 
tween M. de Tocqueville' s book and his parliamentary speeches : 
and why justice can not be done to the orator without reference 
to the author. The reason is this. It so happens, that among 
the remarkable speeches that were made in that ever memorable 
debate on the address in the Chamber of Deputies, immediately 
preceding the February Revolution, the least remarkable was 
certainly not that of M. de Tocqueville, who directly prophesied 
the coming change. He warned society that it was standing on 
a volcano. M. de Remusat used a similar metaphor at the fete 
given by the Duke of Orleans to Charles X., about the same 
period of time preceding the events of July, 1830 ; and in bor- 
rowing so memorable an expression, M. de Tocqueville gave more 
impressive significance to his meaning. A shout of angry repro- 
bation rose from the ministerial benches at so sinister an allusion ; 
and when the accomplishment of the prediction took place, it may 
be doubted if the soothsayer got credit for more than a lucky hit. 

M. de Tocqueville claims his prophetic power not as the pro- 
duction of mesmeric charlatanism, but as a rigid deduction from 
facts and principles, of the certitude of which he felt convinced. 
He says in this, his present speech, " I will give you my reason 
why I believed that a revolution was at our door. All rights, 



DE TOCQUEVILLE. 307 



power, influence, honors, all political life, in fine, were confined 
to an extremely small privileged class, and beneath that class — 
nothing I I saw that there happened, with respect to this class, 
that which eventually takes place in all little exclusive aristocra- 
cies — public hfe declined ; corruption extended more and more ; 
intrigue supplanted public virtues ; every thing began to shrink 
and deteriorate. Looking below, we saw the people living as it 
were, beyond the pale of all official movement, making a kind of 
life proper to itself ; detaching itself more and more by thought 
and feeling from those who were supposed tt be its guide, aban- 
doned to those who were thrown into close intimacy with it ; that 
is to say, to Utopian and dangerous demagogues. It is because 
I saw these two classes, the one little, the other numerous, be- 
coming more separated from each other ; the one full of jealousy, 
distrust, and anger ; the other full of indifference, not unmingled 
with egotism and insensibility. It was because I saw those two 
classes marching on in opposite directions, that I said that which 
appeared to me well founded : the wind of revolution is rising, 
and the revolution is quickly coming." — 

Tliis passage is highly characteristic of the orator, in whose 
eyes events are never accidental, but the rigorous result of cir- 
cumstances. He may, consequently, be believed when he declares, 
that he seriously accepts a Republic which he neither helped to 
make nor desired. It came in the order of events. But as it has 
come he attaches it to the causes that produced it, for sake of re- 
moving the same causes, which, if allowed to continue, would 
bring out something else as little looked for or expected. As it 
was the exaggerated domination of one class that raised the en- 
mity of another — the Revolution was made to put an end to 
classes, and not to inaugurate Communism or Socialism, which 
he held to be general servitude to a master called the State. 

The great Revolution, so far from being hostile to property, 
has raised up ten milUons of proprietors, through the subdivision 
of land ; and these were hostile to Communism. Of course he 
did not omit to present the example of America, where Democ- 
racy yet reigned triumphant, and yet where Socialism was held 
in abhorrence. 



308 DE TOCQUEVILLB. 



The conclusion which he (M. de Tocqueville) would seem to 
have arrived at is, that if the Revolution of February be regarded 
in a political, instead of a Socialist sense, it will endure. It ought, 
he said in two words, which resumed his whole doctrine on the 
subject, to be Christian and Democratic, but not Socialist. 

M. de Tocqueville's manner at the tribune is not affected. It 
is that of an essayist who reads aiid who comments, rather than 
that of an orator who captivates, fires, moves, convinces, and sub- 
dues. Yet the prestige acquired by works so thoughtful and pro- 
found, by a young man in an age so flippant and changing, se- 
cures for M. de Tocqueville the most earnest and sustained atten- 
tion from any audience, no matter how composed, which contains 
persons capable of respecting the claims of a true philosopher. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

DTJVERGIER DE HAtJRANNE, 

DuvERGiER DE Hatjranne, who Came forward to combat 
against Socialism, was the real author of the reform banquets, 
which terminated in the fall of the Monarchy. In an evil hour 
M. Duchatel, Minister of the Interior, affirmed that the country- 
was indifferent on the subject of reform — ^the taunt was taken as 
a challenge — de Hauranne at once retorted that the minister 
should soon be awakened from his delusion, and the reform ban- 
quets were organized. The more commanding position of Odilon 
Barrot, his more impressive eloquence, gave him the conspicuous 
part in the performances ; but the manager was the gentleman 
whom we are now noticing. His is a singular physiqgnomy — a 
remarkably fine head, long, grave face, pale and thoughtful, and 
testifying his descent from the pure ascetic Jansenist, of whom 
he bears one of the historical names ; yet his movements betray 
a nervous excitability, a combative, impatient spirit, that mark 
him out for what he is — a born Oppositionist. His writings and 
his speeches divide his characteristics. The first, like his fine 
head, are thoughtful, methodical, and cold — the latter brisk, pet- 
ulant, and sjnrituel. His writings are all political, and turn 
chiefly on English parliamentary history, or the conduct of part- 
ies in the British legislature. Like his old master, Guizot, whom 
he abandoned for Thiers, he regards our parliamentary govern- 
ment as a heaic ideal of its kind ; and, in spite of his own 
change of leaders, he remains a doctrinaire. He is not only 
well versed in English history, and a close observer, even a 
chronicler, as the Revue des deux Mondes can testify, of the 
daily struggles of English parties, but he is personally acquainted 
with their most eminent politicians. The task which Duvergier 
de Hauranne imposed on himself was that of familiarizing his 
countrymen with English habits of meeting in pubUc. No spec- 



310 DUVERGIEE DE HAURANNB. 






tacle appeared finer to him than the meeting of representatives 
and constituents during the parhamentary vacation, at tov^f^n halls, 
or at the festive* board, for the sake of rendering an account of 
their stewardship, or of combining with their friends some move- 
ment in which they were one and all interested. It was this 
M'-holesome agitation, this diffusion of political life, this unceasing 
activity, that he saw with most envy ; and it was with the hope 
of transplanting so excellent a temper to the soul of the French 
popular mind, that he planned the banquets, which ended in a 
manner so deceptive to his hopes. 

The result proved, among other lessons, Iciow difficult it is for 
a popular reformer to bring up, by any sudden effort, the mind 
of a country to the point at which he has himself arrived by 
years of meditation and study. When a principle becom^ clear 
to the mind of man, the wonder to himself is that he should have 
ever doubted it ; and forgetting that simple as it may look, the 
minds of others must reach it through the same toil and disci- 
pline, he fancies that all are prepared to go along with him. Du- 
vergier de Hauranne fancied that a hasty, excitable people, with 
no other than revolutionary traditions, barricades, and fights, might 
be made to enter in a moment into a system of moral agitation 
quite new to their habits, and for which no sort of previous train- 
ing had prepared them. A less impetuous man might have been 
warned by the almost state of isolation in which he was left to 
pursue his enterprise. The Conservative party remained away ; 
the Republican party would not coalesce ; the Socialists, who 
were conspiring, were rejoiced at the prospect of a new element 
of perplexity. Had the Government not interfered, the sectarian 
character of the movement would have soon been revealed, and 
it miffht have had no other effect than the beneficial one of 
familiarizing, by example, the mind of the country with pohtical 
meetings. A step would, accordingly, have been effected toward 
the very object which the author of the reform banquet had in 
view. The interference with the last banquet gave parties who 
felt no concern about the object a pretext for violence, and under 
pretense of aiming at reform, to make a dash for the Republic. 

We must do de Hauranne the justice to say, that among the 



DUVERGIER DE HAURANNE. 311 

strange assembly that goes by the name of the Constituejit, he 
looked the least surprised or disconcerted of any. Odilon Barrot 
was horrified and mystified by the mischief he had unconsciously 
caused. Thiers took to his bed — Dupin knew not what to do — 
but de Hauranne seemed as much in his element as if he had 
accomplished his design of converting a Chamber of Deputies 
into a British House of Commons, relieved by county meetings, 
town meetings, parochial meetings, and Manchester leagues with- 
out ; instead of which it became almost a revival of the Conven- 
tion, with a narrow escape from the horrors of its prototype. A 
bon onot has made the fortune of this gentleman in the Assembly. 
M. de Lamartine had, in his magnificent emphasis, declared that 
he not only respected but adored property. " Mais, Messieurs," 
archly remarked de Hauranne, " o?i ne resj^ccte pas toujours ce 
qiCon adored Such is Duvergier de Hauranne — reflective and 
impetuous, a very vulture in opposition, and yet as playful as a 
kid. There is no man, taking him altogether, whose presence 
would be more missed from a legislative assembly. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

MONTALAMBERT ^DE FALLOUX ^BILLAtTLT. 

As the speeches of M. Thiers on the address in the Chamber of 
JDeputies were among the most brilliant oratorical efforts of that 
statesman, so the same debate in the Peers was illuminated by 
one of the finest speeches that ever fell from Count de Montalam- 
bert. Yet nothing could be more opposed than the views of 
these distinguished individuals. M. de Montalambert was as 
much charmed with the government of M. Guizot for its efforts 
in favor of the Swiss Sonderbund as M. Thiers was irritated. 
There is, in every man's character, a romantic side, although he 
may not suspect so himself. M. Thiers believes himself to be 
the most positive, practical, and matter-of-fact of mankind, yet 
the battles of the Empire fill his imagination with great pictures, 
and he is a hero-worshiper. In politics he is a stickler for 
authority. What military history is to Thiers, ecclesiastical 
records are to Montalambert, and he would erect priestly author- 
ity over every other. There was no metaphor, figure, or other 
poetical, romantic, or — what is more closely connected than is 
generally supposed — philosophical sign in the language of Mont- 
alambert on the occasion, the great occasion of his oration in the 
Chamber of Peers. The simple picture of a venerable Church 
taking refuge in the land of Tell, among a pure pastoral people, 
amidst their native ramparts, at a moment when authority was 
every where being loosened, and the sympathies that were awak- 
ened on their behalf, were all urged with a fervid earnestness 
that shook the most staid and impassible of well-bred assemblies. 
The ministers were delighted, and applauded without measure. 
The frigid Duke of Nemours descended from his seat and gave 
his hand to the orator. For days subsequent, the denizens of the 
Faubourg St. Germain crowded to the residence of Montalambert, 
in the Rue du Bac. He took to his bed with excitement, and 
that was his last speech as a Peer. 



MONTALAMBERT— DE FALLOUX. 313 

In the National ilsscmbly, jMontalambert was a different man 
from what he was in the Chamber of Peers. He was ill-receiv- 
ed at the tribune ; but from the outset he retorted on his assail- 
ants and interrupters with an expression of disdain which seems 
to make part of his character. As we said when speaking of 
Berryer, that an unrivaled pulpit orator was lost in him, so we 
would say of Montalambert, that he would have made a capital 
controversialist priest. There is in his general style and appear- 
ance something which is half clerical and half fashionable. * His 
manner is taunting and provocative. He holds his head on one 
side, and throws at the Mountain those long askance looks which 
a nose un peic retrousse, helps to render particularly saucy. 
Only that he is a man of fashion he would look very like a 
pedagogue dealing with the whole rabble of Communists, Social- 
ists, and rebels against Church authority, as a set of school-boys, 
whom, having severely lectured and reprimanded, he would will- 
ingly chastise. With all his oratorical powers he is supplanted 
by the milder De Falloux, a man of about the same age as 
himself; like himself, a good son of the Church, and not gifted 
with free power of speech, but known as the writer of the "Life 
of Pius V." In this work De Falloux shows that he would 
reinstate priestly authority even as it was when this pontiff 
hurled his imbecile excommunication at the head of Queen 
Elizabeth. Authority, which with Montalambert is a dogma, 
is with de Falloux a sentiment. The physiognomy of the latter 
is such as you would attribute to a pious crusader, as the cru- 
sader is represented kneeling in monumental marble. A high, 
pale brow, soft, mild eye, regular features, and a pointed beard 
elonsfatingr the oval face. It is to de Falloux, and not to Mont- 
alambert, that the Church party look. While such able cham- 
pions of authority as these remained faithful to their party and 
their convictions, the Republicans obtained a conquest from the 
ranks of the old parliamentary centre gauche in the person of 
M. Billault, who aflbrded a pledge that his newly-adopted senti- 
ments were not simulated but real, by rallying to the side of the 
droit au travail, the feasibility of which was alone believed in 
by the Red Republicans and Socialists, or, as they were classed 

O 



314 BILLAULT. 



under the one general designation, of Montag7iarcU. In speak- 
ing to the question, he described himself to have been all his 
life a positive and practical man, the very reverse of a Utopian. 
He believed that there v^^as a debt due by society to the working 
classes, which it behoved it to pay. The evil was flagrant, and 
they could not shut their eyes to it. He believed that the debt 
could be paid, and should be paid. Was it true that with the 
undeniable advantages that had grown up, misery had kept equal 
pace ? Was it true that in the great centers of industry there 
were profound, chronic, permanent sufferings ? 

Still M. Billault did no more than assert with Lamartine and 
others, that the principle ought to be affirmed, and that they 
should set about to make, rather to seek, some means of carry- 
ing out the principle by law. From this day forth M. Billault 
was viewed with coldness by the old parliamentary party, and 
regarded as a man ambitious of leadership. It was recollected 
that although he had been attached to the party of M. Thiers 
by the ties of office, having been made Under Secretary of State 
by that gentleman, yet, that of late years he showed a disposi- 
tion to set up for himself, and add one more fraction of party 
to the numerous fractions of party into which the Chamber of 
Deputies was formed. It was on the ground of envenomed 
hostility to England, that M. Billault used to take his stand. 
He was foremost in declaring against the droit de visite, and 
was mainly instrumental in forcing both governments into the 
substitution of the new treaty for blockading the coast of Africa 
for the old, giving a right of search of all suspected vessels. 
The purity of his motives was somewhat affected by the fact, 
that he was the chosen — may we not say, without offense, the 
hired — advocate of the slaveholders of Nantes ; and an advocate 
this gentleman is, rather than a statesman. He is a plain, busi- 
ness-like man in appearance, of considerable fluency and some 
acuteness, but without the slightest pretensions to what he so 
much aspires — ^that of a party leader. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

LAGRANGE OF LYONS. 

In dealing with particular principles and their champions, we 
can not fail to be frequently struck with incongruities sometimes 
formed by the contrast of the principles with the man. If we 
find some particular individual most forward in the utterance of 
benevolent sentiments, the chance is that the lip-philanthropist is 
truculent in act, and ferocious at heart. The Avorst moral phe- 
nomenon of these times, is the revelation of an irreligious 
hypocrisy. Heligious hypocrisy is often weakness of will ; the 
succumbing of virtue to desire, followed by an effort to hide a 
sense of shame, and that sometimes by means of self-deluding 
sophistry. Irreligious or non-religious hypocrisy must be rank 
depravity, for it is not put on to hide weakness, but deliberately 
assumed for selfish purposes. An amiable and good man, the 
worthy son of the famous philanthropist, De Tracy, the friend of 
Lafayette, proposed to inscribe on the constitution the abolition 
of capital punishment. His motion was unfortunately seconded by 
Lagrange, familiarly called Lagrange of Lyons. Who is La- 
grange of Lyons ? On the night of the 23d February, a man 
stole along under the shadow of the low wall, formed by the 
elevated trottoirs, which at a few feet distance from the houses 
on the north side of the Boulevard dcs Capucines, makes the 
sunken narrow street called the Rue Basse du Rampart. It 
was about ten o'clock — six hours previously the call for reform 
had been granted, the people were joyful, but it was judged neces- 
sary to keep guard over the Hotels of Ministers. A line of sol- 
diers was drawn across the Boulevard des Capucines, a little 
above the Hotel of the Minister for Foreign Aiiairs, to prevent 
crowds assembling on that point. A picket of cavalry mount- 
ed guard behind. A mob of persons preceded by boys carrying 
torches attempted to force their way through the line of soldiers 



316 LAGRANGE. 



The officer on duty was remonstrating, in the expectation of 
turning them aside, as he had turned other mobs of the same 
kind. While the parley was proceeding, a pistol shot was fired 
from the Rue Basse, a soldier was wounded, the line retaliated — 
the dragoons galloped up, making a semi-circle of fire with their 
carbines, and the National put into print that fifty-two persons 
fell killed and wounded. With a promptitude that betrayed the 
plot, several tumbrils advanced ; the dying and wounded were 
put into them. The gloomy procession advanced to the National 
ofl[ice : the glad tidings were sped through the markets and fau- 
bourgs, and the Republic was raised in the dark conspiracy of 
which Lagrange of Lyons was the instrument. 

The people of the faubourgs of Paris subsequently elected this 
man to a seat in the National Assembly ; and his first essay is 
to render impossible, by his support, the humane proposition of 
Destutt de Tracy. Yet it would be unjust to this Guy Fawkes, 
to confound him with the vulgar assassin. He is a political 
fanatic, as Jacques Clement was. Only he would feel humiliated to 
be put in the same category ; because Clement was a Jesuit, and 
he has no belief except in human perfectibility after some strange 
type, dimly pictured in the chaos of a disordered imagination. 
He was, in this wicked business, the dupe and tool of others, 
who had neither his fanaticism or his daring, such as it was. 
Whenever M. Lagrange mounted the tribune, an eye accustomed 
to watch the physiognomy of the Assembly might perceive an 
air of sadness steal over the right benches. Proudhon excited 
curiosity, Leroux impatience, Lagrange a shudder and a horror. 
The man has no power of utterance, nor is he dogmatic, or para- 
doxical, or offensive ; but he is associated with great ruin : he 
fired the train that shook all Europe, and spread devastation and 
massacre through the principal capitals and provinces of the con- 
tinent. He knew not the sum of mischief he was perpetrating. 
What imagination could conceive it, and the mind retain its 
sanity. Lagrange has the look of a half insane man. At one 
time he may have passed for handsome. His features are spirit- 
ed and striking, and are set ofi' by an abundance of hair, that 
was once coal-black ; but the eternal scowl which sits on the 



LAGRANGE. 317 



man's visage, and which is rather aflected than natural, his fan- 
tastic attitudes, and foppish dress, combine to give him the air 
of a stage bravo, hired to stand at the corner of a scene with 
folded arms, looking daggers, and say nothing. To him might 
Macbeth truly address the speech, that " his spirit shone through 
him." Like that spiteful, merciless, but great man, Cardinal 
Richelieu, the ultra-revolutionist Lagrange is said to waste 
away his leisure hours in the company of cats. While sitting 
in the Assembly he sucks unceasingly a camphorated quill, and 
varies his attitude ad injinitum. We wish we could find even 
more details about this person ; for nothing is immaterial con- 
cerning the man, who, on the night of the 23d of February, 
caused the blood to flow in which a humane King, to use a 
phrase of Chateaubriand, " slipped and fell," and left to Pope, 
Emperor, Kings, and Potentates, to desolate cities, countries, 
and provinces, many a day of shame and misery. He is a lion 
at Socialist banquets, and the recognized organ of the friends of 
the transported insurgents of June. He has proved unremitting 
in his efforts to attain a general amnesty, but when he wrings 
his hand, and weeps, and prays for mercy, the night of the 23d 
Februar}'-, like " the widow's curse," in the energetic language 
of Massinger, " hangs on his arm." 



CHAPTEPv XXXVII. 

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE EX-BARON CHARLES DUPIN. 

It was on tlie 26th of September that Louis Napoleon Bona- 
parte took his seat in the National Assembly. He had been 
elected by Paris, and by the departments of the Charente and 
Yonne, and such manifestations of pojDular enthusiasm had every 
where appeared, as to have strengthened the uneasiness and deep- 
ened the distrust with which the heir of the Emperor had been 
viewed by the Republican party. It was resolved, however, to 
treat the Prince with perfect indifference, so far as indifference 
can be put on by an assembly, for the nonce-sustained indifference 
by a large popular body being out of the question. When Louis 
Napoleon entered the salle he was greeted with no friendly wel- 
come. Quietly, almost timidly, he crept to the seat which was 
held vacant by his old tutor, M. Viellard, whose affectionate 
smile and pressure of the hand were the only demonstrations of 
kindness that had cheered this hitherto unfortunate exile. As 
soon as the President proclaimed that the Citizen Louis Napo- 
leon Bonaparte was a representative of the people, the new 
representative said, " Je demande la parole.^'' Straightway he 
mounted the tribune without a mark of encouragement. His 
self-possession did not forsake him as he proceeded to read from a 
written paper, which, in concise and unaffected language, declared 
that he owed too deep a debt of gratitude to the Republic, which 
had given to him, after thirty- three years of proscription and exile, 
a country and the rights of citizenship, not to devote himself to 
its service. 

Simple and touching as was this appeal, it did not break the 
icy reserve which had been adopted. The enemies of the Prince 
were in one respect disappointed, and in another most perversely 
gratified. It was expected and hoped that he would have made 
his appearance in the midst of some claptrap or coii20 de theatre, 



LOUIS NAPOLEON. 319 



some miserable parody of his wonderful uncle's maimer, that 
would have raised a laugh fatal to his ^^/'es^i'oe. He did quite 
the reverse. The compensating gratification was furnished by 
the discovery that the Prince had a German accent, and that he 
was very unlike a Parisian. 

It was perceived that, if he did not aflbrd the handle of au 
absurd entree on the political scene, his accent would furnish an 
exhaustless series of little ridicules that would wear him down, 
among a people who, with a readiness for great changes, are the 
greatest conservatives of small habits, of routine, and petty pro- 
prieties, of any nation, rather of any city, on the face of the 
globe. 

There could be no salon conve7iance with a German brogue. 
The Prince had only to open his mouth, to offend the delicacy 
of ears not naturally very musical. The fact that the Prince 
could not speak French was registered that evening by the news- 
papers, and repeated next morning with cordial satisfaction. No 
event had caused so much pleasure, since the limp of the Due 
de Bordeaux. When it was discovered that the royal Pretender 
halted, he was looked upon as civilly dead. 

A tongue that could not fluently utter the language of Racine, 
would in vain have pleaded the memory of Napoleon. In order 
to settle forever with the Prince, it became necessary to draw 
him out. It was evident, from his being obliged to commit to 
paper the few sentences that he uttered on his introduction, as 
well as from his general bearing, that he did not possess a ready 
elocution ; and on this foundation was reared a little battery of 
tormenting insinuations, a discharge from which did eventually 
succeed in stinging Louis Napoleon into an effort at an extempo- 
raneous speech, which proved, as had been expected, a break- 
down ; whereupon there was an outburst of joy, and the journals 
duly registered the exclamations of Flocon, of the big Anthony 
Thouret, and of Clement Thomas, that their minds were at ease 
on the score of a Pretender. 

The Prince declared, with spirit and dignity, that he had once 
for all answered the calumnious insinuations as to his objects, 
which had been so repeatedly urged and disavowed, and that 



320 LOUIS NAPOLEON. 



henceforth he would not notice any attacks of the kind. The 
shop windows were filled with caricatures. Paris had so long 
dictated to the country, that it was fondly fancied that the reign 
of the capital was still supreme. Perhaps no man had ever 
heen so caricatured before, and lived it down. The Prince bore 
this lithographic persecution without evincing the least irritation. 
Was it real superiority, or mere stolidity — had he been tamed 
by imprisonment and exile, and had he suffered too much in 
reality and in fact, to heed such impertinences ? Was he too 
really rejoiced to find himself at home in his own country, to 
allow his happiness to be overshadowed by the petulance of such 
wits ? Did he think it impossible that pictures and squibs could 
destroy the impression of the Arc de triomphe de V Etoile, of the 
bronze column in the imperial-looking Place Vendome, of the 
tomb at the Invalides ? There can be no doubt that the Prince 
felt profound faith in his popularity with the people. He knew 
that the day of perfect triumph would come, and that he would 
receive full compensation for the distrust of the National Assembly 
and the disdain of his opponents. Whatever destiny may be re- 
served for Louis Napoleon, we now know that hitherto he has 
suffered too much from the contemptuous opinion of men. A 
life, that, should his future career prove good or glorious, will be 
regarded as marked by events of the miost touching romance, has 
hitherto been treated as undeserving of respect, or only deserving 
of blame. Pie was born in Paris, the 20th April, 1808. His 
father, the King of Holland, was a good, conscientious man, who 
devoted himself to the interests of the people whom he was placed 
over, and, by his virtuous independence, incurred the displeasure 
of the Emperor. His mother, Hortense, was the daughter of 
that Josephine whose memory, despite her failings, will ever be 
regarded by the French with tender and romantic interest. 

Louis Napoleon comes, then, from the best branch of the Im- 
perial stock — no less the heir of his great uncle, than the claim- 
ant of the debt due to his beloved ancestress for her sufferings. 
The birth of Louis Napoleon took place when Napoleon was at 
the height of his power, when the continent was at his feet, and 
when antique, glorious nations were reckoned as mere depart- 



LOUIS NAPOLEON. 321 



ments of France. It was Josephine herself who stood sponsor 
for the young Prmce. The baptismal ceremony was performed 
by his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, and Paris hailed the ceremony with 
magnificent fetes. He was seven years old when Hortense was 
obliged to retire from Paris. The Empire had perished. The 
unfortunate Princess took up her abode at Augsburg, where she 
superintended her son's education, until she was obliged to quit 
Bavaria, and to seek an asylum in Switzerland, choosing the 
Canton of Thurgovia on the borders of the Lake of Constance. 

When of sufficient age to serve, Louis Napoleon entered the 
Swiss army, in a regiment of which Dufour, subsequently the 
Commander-in-Chief of the federal army against the Sonderbund, 
was colonel. While yet almost a boy, the Prince, with his 
brother, became engaged in an attempt to revolutionize the 
Roman States, and had the misfortune to witness the death of 
his brother in an affair so miserable that it has already passed 
into obscurity. He, himself, was saved at Ancona from the 
search of the Austrian police, by the address of his mother, who 
boldly hid him in the very palace of the governor. Having been 
refused a residence in France by the Government of Louis- 
Philippe, the Prince took refuge in England, from whence, in 
August, 1831, he returned to Switzerland, and, on his arrival, 
received a deputation from the Poles, then making a desperate 
struggle against Russia, who offered to place themselves under 
his command. 

His subsequent attempt to get up a military revolt at Stras- 
burg ; his later attempt at a coiqj de main at Boulogne ; his 
arrest, condemnation, and long imprisonment at Ham, with his 
adventurous escape, are too familiar to need more than a passing 
allusion. 

There are now three circumstances which, connected with the 
life and adventures of the Prince, can not fail to strike observation : 

1st. His deep-rooted conviction in his own destiny. 

2d. The fact that all that is interesting and touching in his 
history, has been hidden under public acts, whose failure has 
given them a half stupid, half ludicrous aspect in the eyes of the 
world ; and, 



322 LOUIS NAPOLEON. 

3d. That this Prince, at whom the wits of Paris were laugh- 
ing, and whom the people of other countries regarded as weak 
and dull, if not positively wicked, possessed a popularity such as 
no living man could boast ; a devotion to his person that was 
not suspected until it blazed out of a sudden in all parts of the 
land : east, west, north, and south, and with an intensity recog- 
nized by all to be irresistible. 

We must endeavor to examine this matter a little more. 
There were many reasons why the world should have deceived 
itself as to the character and prospects of Louis Napoleon. 
There was a more immediate and important pretender in the 
field, should the throne of Louis-Philippe come to be contested ; 
that adversary, in the eyes of all men, was the Duke of Bordeaux. 
It was, accordingly, about this young Prince that public interest 
attached itself. 

The sympathies of the sovereigns of the north were with him ; 
the feelings of the clergy were on his side ; the old families clung 
to the principle of legitimacy ; and the rural population were 
considerably influenced by the clergy, who, for sake of conveying 
a clear meaning, we must still call the aristocracy. Nor did the 
middle and industrious classes turn their attention at all toward 
the Bonapartists. They could not reconcile the name of Bona- 
parte with peace, and they could not view with pleasure the 
prospect of general war, which would have deranged their affairs. 
The literary men, although less peaceably disposed, yet never 
could forget or forgive the hard regime under which the press 
lay bound and gagged. The gigantic struggles of the Empire, 
so fruitless of results, left after them a long sense of weariness. 
War could not be made to support itself now, and the budget 
had so swelled, that added taxation to support war, would prove 
excessively onerous. 

To all these reasons must be added moral considerations. All 
nations are brought closer together, and by mutual intercourse 
have rubbed off many prejudices. They feel that there is cruelty 
in treading down the fruits of the husbandmen, in sacking towns, 
and giving over civilized people and gentle and innocent families' 
homes to the licentiousness of armies. Such were some of the 



LOUIS NAPOLEON. 323 



general considerations which helped to throw the heir of Napo- 
leon into the shade. His two efforts to seize the crown rested 
evidently on the army, and, had either succeeded, the army 
would, it was not irrationally conceived, be taught to feel like 
Pretorians ; to regard the young Ca3sar as the puppet they had 
set up, and having set up might pull down. There would have 
been an end of disciphne and no security from this emperor- 
making-army but by employing it in war. The success of Louis 
Napoleon at Strasburg or at Boulogne would, hence, have led 
to war as the least of two evils — for war would have been a less 
evil than military anarchy. 

The trial of Louis Napoleon by the Chamber of Peers in 
1840, for the attempt at Boulogne, served to sink him utterly. 
His German accent, his difficulty of speech, and as a consequence 
bis somewhat confused manner, were regarded as signs of weak- 
ness of mind. The tame Eagle had given an irremediable air 
of folly to the Boulogne expedition. The tame manner of the 
hero on the great stage of a state trial, when flippant audacity 
would have been better than ill-guarded silence, or still more 
awkward replies, betraying a want of presence of mind — this 
tame-bearing manner, giving no hold to admiration, and on which 
sympathy fell deadened, put an end to any interest that might 
have been felt in the hero's fate. He might have lain forever 
in the fortress of Ham, as forgotten as a victim consisfned to an 
oubliette in times of feudal oppression. He escaped, and, as a 
m.atter of course, sought the hospitable shores of England ; and 
while in London launched into the gay world of fashion, con- 
founded in the crowd of frivolous votaries of pleasure. 

The Monarchy is withdrawn, and the Republic set up in its 
place. Louis Napoleon is free to visit his native land ; but in a 
moment of revolutionary chaos, where any thing may be expected 
and no party need despair, the Prince was regarded still as a 
mere adventurer, who came to try his luck. 

The Provisional Government evinced uneasiness at the pres- 
ence of the Bonapartes, and the Prince withdrew ; but the few days 
or hours of his obscure stay in the capital must have been filled 
with deep emotions pregnant with great hope. 



324 LOUIS NAPOLEON. 



How powerfully must not his earliest impressions, tliose the 
most ineffaceable, the impressions of childhood, have returned 
upon him ? The child who, at seven years of age, is treated as 
the heir to a crown, will be all his life a king in feeling ; take 
such a child, and let his youth and manhood be buffeted from 
shore to shore, an exile and an adventurer, making desperate at- 
tempts to recover what he deems his birthright ; failing — then 
tried, then imprisoned, then an exile again, taking the last plunge 
of despair, which is dissipation, until sobered by the advent of a 
hope arising from events which have shaken the world. Place 
him again on the ground of his childhood : let us imagine him 
before the palace of the Tuileries, resplendent with the glories 
of the Empire, and now only saved after the vilest profanation 
from being destroyed by drunken and debauched revolters, by 
having had scrawled upon its walls, " Hotel des Invalides du 
travail ;" in other words, asylum for superannuated paupers ; 
while it is in the mean time a hospital for those who were 
wounded on the 24th of February. From the garden side he 
would see attired in long gray coats, and wearing white night- 
caps, the gallant burners and suffocators of the poor Municipal 
Guards of the Chateau d'Eau, enjoying those terraces which 
were ever the delight of his mother and grandmother. Stand- 
ing in the whirl of such ruin, in presence of a monument that 
remained erect through so many changes and revolutions, like an 
enduring rock, testifying of stability and order, and to him doubly 
so, for order was the law of Napoleon's mind ; can we be sur- 
prised if the vows that he made were in favor of the restoration 
of society ? The wild voice of the revolution might howl in his 
ears that the name of Bonaparte had no power or authority in 
a time of doctrinal discovery ; but that prince could not take 
one step without encountering a monument, so expressive of 
Napoleon, and so much eclipsing or absorbing all other monu- 
ments, as to make the great mistress of continental cities look 
to have been molded by his hand and stamped by his genius. 
Even at Notre Dame, which is to old Paris what the Madeleine 
is to the new, the visitor's dreams of old times are disturbed by 
an invitation to see, what ? The robes which Napoleon wore 



LOUIS NAPOLEOxN. ^25 



on the day of his coronation. And the man who sorrowed and 
suffered ,saw all this as no other man could see it ; his faith grew 
strong, and with the prescience that had its source in profound 
feelings, he felt that the name which drew France out of revo- 
lutionary chaos might again achieve the same glory, but com- 
bined with the goodness that animated the heart of Louis, King 
of Holland. The passion of love with which not only the dis- 
tant provinces but the capital itself hailed the new condition of 
Louis Napoleon, when he at length determined on waiving deli- 
• cate scruples and taking his seat in the Assembly, seemed to 
have confounded all parties. The Monarchists thought it pru- 
dent not to attempt to stem the popular will ; and it speaks well 
for the object of an ovation, the like of which had never been 
witnessed, in numbers and intensity, that he did not for a mo- 
ment lose his head, and that being the only man not taken by 
surprise, he advanced steadily along the path which he had evi- 
dently long marked out in his own mind. The writings of Louis 
Napoleon had been brought into notice some time after the rev- 
olution, and they did him good service in this way, that they 
showed him to be a man who understood the spirit of his own 
time. The questions to which he applied his mind while a pris- 
oner at Ham, referred to the two great wants of French society. 
The first, the combination of authority in the government with 
social equality ; and secondly, the extinction of pauperism, which 
has become the less endurable on account of that deep-seated 
spirit of equality, which, irremovable as a sentiment, will oblige 
all society to conform itself in some way to the overruling feel- 
ing. The strength of Socialism lies here. 

The following reflections on pauperism were published by the 
Prince, ten years ago : — 

" The reign of caste is finished : there is no way of govern- 
ing except through the masses : while government must be 
according to their will, it becomes the more necessary that they 
be so disciplined, that they may be directed and enlightened as 
to their true interests. Government can no longer be carried on 
by force and violence ; the people must be led toward something 
better, through appeals to their reason and their hearts. But as 



326 LOUIS NAPOLEON. 



the masses require to be taught and made moral, and as author- 
ity requires on its side to be kept within bounds, and to be itself 
enlightened upon the interests of the greatest nuraiber, two move- 
ments become, as of necessity, of equal force : action of power 
on the mass, and the reaction of the mass on power. Birt these 
two influences can only act without clashing by means of inter- 
mediaries, which possess at once the confidence of those whom 
they represent, and of those who govern. These intermediaries 
will have the confidence of the former so soon as they shall be 
freely elected by them, and of the latter when they shall fill an 
important place in society ; for it may be said with truth, in gen- 
eral, that man is what the function which he fills obliges him to be." 

There can not surely be a higher appreciation of moral dig- 
nity than in these passages. Education is pointed at as of ab- 
solute necessity ; with education, free choice of representatives, 
and at the same time authority and dignity in the governing 
powers, but of moral acquirement. The following passages 
from the Prince's " Idees Napoleoniennes,''^ published a year 
later, evince even in a stronger light the character of his mind 
and the nature of his studies : — 

" When there is no longer public spirit, jior religion, nor 
political faith, some one, at least, of these three things must be 
created anew before liberty can be considered possible. When 
successive changes of the Constitution have shaken the respect 
due to the law, the influence of law must be revived before lib- 
erty can become possible. When ancient m.anners have been 
destroyed by a social revolution, new manners must be formed 
in accordance with the new principles before liberty can be pos- 
sible. When government, whatever be its form, has neither 
force nor prestige, and there exists no order either in the admin- 
istration or in the state, fresh prestige must be created and order 
re-established before liberty can be possible. When in a country 
where there is no longer an aristocracy and no other organized 
body but the army, it becomes necessary to re-constitute civil 
order, based upon a precise and regular organization, before lib- 
erty can be possible." 

It is a proof how much adventitious circumstances, more than 



LOUIS NAPOLEON. 327 



abstract merit, affect society, that sentiments like these were 
allowed to pass unheeded, because they emanated from an advent- 
urer, supposed to be ruined, and whose success would have con- 
founded parties. Had the Duke of Bordeaux published such 
opinions, they would have been received with an adulation as 
much beyond their real merit, as the neglect that attended them 
was unworthy of the independence that ought to characterize 
thinking people. Why Louis Napoleon should be no orator is 
explained by the axiomatic character of his writings ; a frequent 
sententiousness is the fruit of reflection and thought, and the tri- 
bune is not the place for the utterance of phrases which presume 
much previous study, to which the hearers have not been gradu- 
ally conducted while charmed and interested on the way. It 
would be too much to say that the works of the Prince display 
extraordinary literary merit. Perhaps so much the better. When 
there is genius, at least so it is with Frenchmen, in these our 
days, there is often a love of paradox, a desire for extravagance, 
and, unconsciously it may be, a distortion of views. A governor 
of genius might, in times where so many things have to be fixed 
in their proper places, and set right, be tempted into adventures 
that might cost tears and blood. What is wanted is a man of 
solid judgment, good principles, good heart, a clear and cultivated 
understanding. Do not these extracts reveal such qualities ? 
By the light of subsequent events, as it generally happens, we 
see more clearly, quahties which before we could not discern for 
ourselves. 

The moment of the arrival of Louis Napoleon was well calcu- 
lated to enable him to form an opinion of the powers of leading 
men. He took his seat in the midst of the debate upon the most 
important question, whether the Parliament should be composed 
of one or two Chambers. It was on this question, and in support 
of two Assemblies that Odilon Barrot dehvered perhaps the best 
speech he ever made in his life. It was quite an oratorical tri- 
umph, as sound in matter as it was effective in manner. It was 
this speech that in all probability suggested the fit man to be 
first Minister of the Republic, as soon as it should be regularly 
constituted by the election of the President. It happened, how- 



323 CHARLES DUPIN. 



ever, that it was the Ex-Baron Charles Dupin who resumed the 
debate, which was an adjourned one, on this question, and 
curiously enough, his views were in direct opposition to those of 
his more celebrated brother. As Dupin the elder is a lawyer, 
so Charles Dupin is the incarnation of figures — a very calculat- 
ing machine. The British House of Commons could not furnish 
a more exclusive dealer in arithmetic. The two sides of a ques- 
tion are to him the two sides of an account ; his arguments a 
running debtor and creditor, his conclusions a balance sheet. 
The science of statistics is most valuable, and statistics employed 
as an element in the consideration of a question, give accuracy 
and strength to general arguments. But there can be no doubt 
that an exclusive reliance on figures is too much the fashion of 
the day, and that parliamentary debates have been lowered and 
vulgarized, by the haggling and peddling tone, the fighting over 
accounts, recently brought into fashion by the study, if study it 
be, of blue books. Dullness has discovered a way by which it 
may look profound, and men of comprehensive intellects, appre- 
hensive of appearing rhetorical and ill-informed, feel obliged to 
follow in the track of this dullness. Burke, the most brilliant, as 
well as the most sohd of statesmen, he who possessed the ore 
with its luster and its standard value, employed statistics most 
copiously, but in due subordination to great principles, whose 
truth and working may ever be tested by details, but not sup- 
planted by them. Charles Dupin looks the character of his 
mind and habits of thinking. He is tall and lean, of cold eye 
and bihous complexion, yet choleric as a dogmatist. The wonder 
in the present instance was, not that he should have brought his 
figures to bear against his brother's law, but that his brother 
should have taken up a position that astounded his friend Lord 
Brougham. The truth would appear to be, that only some men 
like Odilon Barrot and Duvergier de Hauranne were swayed by 
considerations of a constitutional character, others were moved by 
views which were independent of the constitutional question at 
issue. Charles Dupin seeing that society had been saved by the 
promptitude with which the Assembly in June invested one man 
with the executive power, and enabled him to provide measures 



CHARLES DUPIN. 329 



that a day's delay might have rendered valueless, voted for a 
single Chamber. So completely had authority been broken down 
by the destruction of royalty, that it appeared well to him that 
such authority as had been spared, should be concentrated some- 
where. A battle had been fought and won, but the campaign 
might be renewed at any time ; Socialism had been " scotched, 
not killed." Its attack would depend for success on its sudden- 
ness, and on surprise. The means of defense ought to be simple 
and ready. It might be dangerous to have to reconcile two 
houses at such a moment, when by the artful tactics of party, 
seeds of division might previously have been sown between them. 
Both might chance to be bidding against each other for popu- 
larity. Their mutual distrust, or their struggle for influence, 
might paralyze the action of both. The army might not know 
from what side it should take its orders. Dissension between 
the legislative powers might create wavering in the National 
Guard ; one party would alone see its way clearly, be unhamp- 
ered by scruples, unchecked by hesitations, and that party the 
enemy of society. It was therefore on special grounds, not with- 
out weight, that Charles Dupin sided with the genuine Demo- 
crats, to whom he was all his life opposed, and voted for a single 
Assembly. There were some, who, on the contrary, maintained 
the one Chamber, in the expectation that it would become a long 
Parliament, or Convention ; yet this party has, according to an 
acute writer, M. de Barante, made a mistake, and for this in- 
genious reason, that by allowing a senate to be made they would 
have removed all, or the greater number of the political celebrities 
of the day, from the lower to the upper House, and the new men, 
who had not yet acquired influence, would not be blazed down 
as they of late have been, by the distinguished senators of the 
monarchy. The truth of the observation has already been 
proved, for we have had occasion to notice more than once, and 
to dwell upon the fact, that as soon as the effervescence attend- 
ing the early meetings of the Assembly had subsided, we saw the 
old familiar names regain their ascendency, and the obscure 
aspirants to parliamentary fame shrinlt back, awed by their own 
sense of infirmity. 



CHAPTEPv XXXVIII. 

FELIX PYAT AND THE MOUNTAIN. 

It was, as we have seen, by allies connected together by dif- 
ferent motives, that the resolution of limiting- the Parliament to 
one Assembly was carried. The effect of this resolution was 
greatly to enhance the position of the President of the Republic ; 
for, instead of becoming a moderator and arbitrator in the State, 
he would now stand on the same footing as the Assembly itself 
— elected, like it, by universal suffrage, and entitled, it might be. 
to draw inferences as to his own rights, of a dubious character. 
He would have a right to say that he was chosen to do the will 
of the people, and to refer to popular opinion as his authority 
rather than to the Assembly. There would be even this diflier- 
ence in his favor, that, while the Assembly was composed of 
individuals, each of whom only represented a particular locality 
beyond which he might not be known, the President would be 
known to all the people, and chosen by all the people. If the 
unique expression of the nation's will was to be sought for any 
where, it would surely be in the person chosen by the universal 
voice. The resolution not to have a senate amounted virtually 
to a denial of the constitutional principle of checks and balances, 
and to the confounding of legislation and execution, which expe- 
rience had proved ought to be kept separate. 

The extreme left, called the Mountain, having led more mode- 
rate republicans into the rejection of a senate, conceived that they 
had created a basis for the rejection of a President, and it was 
fairly enough argued that the consequence of the former ought to 
be the conferring upon the single Assembly the whole power of 
the State. As the Assembly was not to be balanced by a senate, 
why should it be balanced by a President ? Why should two 
rival powers be placed face to face ? The end might be, that 
the President, taking advantage of some popular delusion or ex- 



VIEWS OF THE MOUNTAIN. 331 

orbitant popularity, would some day or other have himself 
declared President for life, Kmg, or Emperor. It was, there- 
fore, contended that the strict logical result of a determination to 
have but one Assembly should be, that the President should de- 
rive his authority from this Assembly itself, in order that it might 
control him, and hold him by a responsibility from which universal 
suffrage would, in a considerable degree, relieve him. It was fur- 
ther suggested that, in choosing his ministers, a President elected 
by the universal sufiirage of the nation would feel independent, 
not only of the Assembly, but of ministers themselves. He 
might say that, being personally responsible — for the maxim that 
a Kins: can do no wrong did not cover him — he could not feel 
bound to follow the advice of ministers, although imposed by a 
majority of the Assembly. Suppose it should happen that the 
Assembly had ceased to represent the feelings of the people on 
some vital question, and that its term of three years was running 
to a close, why, the next Assembly might impeach him ; for his 
responsibility held him bound to the nation, and not to one par- 
ticular Parliament more than another. He might, therefore, at 
any time, reject the advice of ministers, and stand out against 
the majority, pleading his personal responsibility — ^his belief in 
the general opinion — while, at the same time, the appeal to that 
belief might lead to a demonstration fatal to the popular body, 
because less popular than the chief of the State. 

All dangers and inconveniences would be removed, it was said, 
by making the sole Assembly a really unique power. The de- 
parture from checks and balances in the powers of the State 
justified the line of argument taken by the Mountain, while it 
exposed the inconsistencies into which their opponents had allowed 
themselves to be drawn by a departure from principle. 

But if the one side feared a President, the other feared an Assem- 
bly which would concentrate all powers, legislative and executive, 
in its own hands ; such an Assembly would soon become a Conven- 
tion, and that was precisely what the Mountain wanted to effect. 
If the apprehensions of what a President might become were 
quickened by the presence of a Louis Bonaparte, his presence 
was viewed with at least equal satisfaction by those of all parties, 



332 FELIX PYAT. 



other than the R-epublican, who were glad to see a person appear 
on the stage who might, by the prestige of his name, save them 
from that greatest of all dangers — an unchecked, uncontrolled, 
democratic body, animated with recollections of the first great 
revolution, and ready to imitate its worst acts. 

The organ of the Mountain on this occasion was Felix Pyat, 
a man who, like all the conspicuous members of his party, was 
full of paradox. Pyat is a dramatic writer, who does not halt 
midway, like Victor Hugo, but goes the whole length of the prin- 
ciple from which he takes his line of departure. He would 
despise, as so much trick, the diluting a heap of vice with some 
impossibly isolated virtue. All society is rotten in his eyes. It 
must be pulled down utterly, that the dregs may rise to the 
top. He is the most somber of misanthropists — ^the most acrid 
of cynics — the fiercest of demagogues. Hugo degrades royalty 
by his pictures, and would uphold it — debases aristocracy, and 
yet would maintain it — he describes the objects of his worship, 
and finds in his own desecration further motives for reverence. 
It is only another form of pride — " Behold what he may do 
with impunity." There is no such egotism as this in Pyat. 
He is thinking altogether of his work, and that is destruction. 
A little before the Revolution, Pyat employed the theater, as 
Sand and Sue had employed the feuilleton, as a means of irritat- 
ing the poor against the rich. His " Chifibnier de Paris" was to 
most persons a repulsion ; to some an attractive drama. 

The sojourner in Paris is well acquainted with the appearance 
of the wretched Chiffonier, as he sallies forth at night, a lantern 
in one hand, a short stick with a hook at the end in the other, a 
basket strapped to his back, and his little wiry-haired dog, help- 
ing him in his search for rags, bones, shreds, and patches. The 
dwelling of the Chiffonier, in the remote and filthy Rue MoufTe- 
tard, is miserable in the extreme. His room is the storehouse of 
his diggings in the dust and ashes of an exhaustless California. 
Pyat takes for his hero the Chiffonier in all his hideous squallid- 
ness, fills him with all virtues, and, by way of contrast, presents 
some characters taken from the titled and wealthy classes, whose 
lives are stained with the foulest crimes. No one will attempt 



FELIX FY AT. 333 



to say that a Chiflbnier is not deserving of all sympathy — or that 
there is any creature of the family of man who ought to be held 
irrevocably doomed to misery ; but that which is condemnable is 
this way of showing off assumed virtues by assumed vices ; as 
if the virtues were the property of one class and the vices of 
another. 

The moral intended to be drawn from a story in which the 
poor are painted all good, which they are not, and the rich all 
bad, which they are not either — that moral is neutralized by the 
predetermined bad faith of the author. He writes not to shame 
and subdue obduracy in high places, or to soften and elevate the 
suffering, but to inflame and irritate passion, to whet vengeance, 
and to hound on to crime. This repulsive work had been pre- 
ceded by a play of his, in which the most daring liberty was 
taken with a piece of famihar history, for sake of indulging 
the mind in its propensity to paradox. Pyat chose Diogenes for 
his hero, and the famed Aspasia for his heroine. Animated by 
whim or caprice, the fascinating dame, in all the luster of her 
charms and dress, and attended by an illustrious train of ad- 
mirers, pays a visit to the tub of the cynic, at the moment when he 
is more than ordinarily ungracious, and she falls in love with him. 

And yet M. Pyat is far from presenting in his own person that 
taste for rags which strike his imagination so agreeably. He 
wears a long beard it is true, but it is carefully attended to. 
His head seems at least to be under the constant care of the 
coiffeur. Nor is his manner in the tribune unattractive. His 
countenance is striking and intelhgent — his eyes are lustrous and 
fine, with a somewhat gloomy expression. HJis speeches have 
sometimes thrown the Assembly into a fever of indignation, by 
the savageness of his attacks on the bourgeoisie ; yet he not un- 
frequently extracts a laugh by the bitter pungency of his well- 
prepared, well-polished, and well-finished antithesis. A Revolu- 
tionist, Red Republican, Socialist, Communist, scowling at 
palaces, and habitue of the haunts of misery, he is still but a 
litterateur. Above all and before all, being an artist, he would 
overthrow society with a view to art. The conflagration would 
first be made for sake of the picture, and then — )wus aviserons. 



CHAPTEPv XXXIX. 

M. DUFAURE COUNT MOLE— MARSHAL BUGEAUD. 

Four months had nearly elapsed since the Insurrection of 
June, and the tranquillity which the country owed to the severe 
and firm, yet withal mild government of General Cavaignac, 
was considered to be so well secured as to justify the removal of 
the state of siege. The head of the government determined at 
the same time to strengthen his hands by calling to his counsels 
two or three eminent statesmen, who, although they might have 
served under the Monarchy, yet bore such character for probity 
and independence, as to disavow the jealousies of the strictly 
E-epublican party ; while they would bring with them the sup- 
port of their numerous friends, softened and satisfied as these 
would be by such deference to their feelings. 

It was not an easy matter for General Cavaignac to manage 
the necessary negotiations. He was himself the recogniz^ed 
head of the Republicans. He was the brother of Godfrey 
Cavaignac — the son of a Conventionalist who had been an 
agent of the Committee of Public Safety — he had been cradled 
in respect and love for the men of the Revolution. He had, on 
the other hand, fought with and crushed a Socialist rebellion. 
He was, therefore, compromised forever with the Ultra-Revolu- 
tionary party. But he was still surrounded by men who were 
most obnoxious to all sections of Conservatives, and he was 
reputed, although with little probability of justice, to lean for 
advice on persons whose principles were considered to be loose. 
In a word, it was thought that should the question arise between a 
restoration of the Monarchy and a Red Republic, he would accept 
the latter with all its dangers ; or, as some would say, with all 
its horrors. A late circumstance had occurred to justify these 
assertions. It was discovered that Commissioners had actually 
been appointed, taken from some of the most ardent Republicans, 



THE RUE DE POICTIERS CLUB. 335 

with the mission to preach up Republicanism through the pro- 
vinces, whose languid acceptance of a sort of government for 
which they had no taste, began to inspire uneasiness. The 
name Commissioner, after the example set by Ledru-Rollin's 
emissaries, was enough to cause a ferment. It was a name in- 
dicative of corruption and intimidation coarsely exercised — of 
magistrates summarily dismissed — and the money of bankers im- 
pounded at the bidding of some sans culotte proconsul. 

Three months of the most conciliatory conduct on the part of 
General Cavaignac had nearly been neutralized by this discovery. 
A question was raised in the Assembly, and although the explan- 
ation was offered that the so-called Commissioners were amicable 
volunteer agents going forth On a mission of conciliation, a deeply 
injurious impression remamed. So far as he himself was per- 
sonally concerned, Cavaignac could successfully stand upon his 
pre-eminent services to the cause of society, of order, and of 
civilization ; but he could not remove the distrust with which 
his eritourage was regarded. Negotiations, however, were re- 
newed with the Parliamentary Club of the Rue de Poictiers, 
which was governed by M. Thiers chiefly, and afterward 
mainly influenced, in accordance with that gentleman, by Count 
Mole, Marshal Bugeaud, and other distinguished members of 
the old Conservative party. The object of this Club was to 
assemble all such representatives as were desirous of preserving 
society from the new doctrines, which, having already penetrated 
the masses in towns, were tempting ambitious men to take ad- 
vantage of the occasion that they might become popular leaders. 
Hence it was that in this club were found not only Monarchists 
and Bonarpartists, but moderate Republicans. There was thus 
no inconsistency in General Cavaignac, who had saved society 
by the sword, seeking the support of a Club which professed to 
maintain what he had saved. Furthermore, this distinguished 
man had resolved, that so long as he held what he looked upon 
as a provisional trust until the Constitution should pass, and a 
regular Government be founded, he would regard himself as the 
organ of the Assembly, considered with reference to the majority. 

In the Assembly there were three parties, the moderate Re- 



336 DUFAURE. 



publicans, of wliich he was the head ; the Red Republicans, 
under Ledru-RoUin, from whom he had broken ; and that form- 
idable coalition of old parliamentary members, generally called 
the Rue de Poictiers Club. No one of these parties could, by 
itself, carry any measure. The Red Republicans hated Cavaig- 
nac, because they were obliged to do so, or to affect hatred, out 
of obedience to the Clubs. To them he could not look. The 
Moderate Republicans were divided, out of jealousy toward the 
man who had supplanted the Executive Commissioners of Govern- 
ment ; but those who had, like Gamier Pages, Pagnerre, St. Hil- 
aire, and even Lamar tine, been set aside to make room for the 
gallant General, did not, on that account, coalesce with the 
Mountain, as the Ultra-Republicans were called. Cavaignac 
owed his position to the toleration of the Rue de Poictiers Club. 
Being aware that such was the case, he naturally desired to cul- 
tivate an open and avowed union as the more respectable and 
honest, rather than this covert support, which was so little agree- 
able to his pride. At length M. Dufaure and M. Vivien con- 
sented to enter the cabinet, and their adhesion was inaugurated 
by a measure that virtually put an end to martial-law. Two 
more honorable men could hardly have been found, and yet their 
nomination was so ill taken that some Republican members 
resigned offices they held, and the newspapers raised the cry of 
reaction. M. Dufaure at once became the presiding spirit of 
Cavaignac's Administration. To the Republic he vowed the 
firmest allegiance, and to his chief — ^the most perfect expression of 
Republicanism, in its best form — he became personally attached. 
If M. Dufaure was sincere, in such an acceptance of the great 
change that had been made as amounted to conversion, such a fact 
would have been calculated to produce important results, not only 
as regarded the stability of the Republic, but in the guarantee 
afforded by such a man that moderation and probity would, hence- 
forth, be its animating principles. He would, at the same time, 
have done General Cavaignac the personal service of pledging the 
security of his own unimpeachable reputation to the country that 
there was no foundation for those floating suspicions about his 
Red Pvepublican leanings, that the prudence, firmness, and good 



DUFAURE. 337 



sense of his public conduct had fkiled to remove. The most 
obvious considerations, derived from evidence of good intentions, 
fail of effect upon excited political parties. 

The presence of M. Dufaure only served to calm the mind of 
Conservatives, and of the orderly part of the community, pending 
the interval which was to elapse until the great question of the 
Presidency should be decided. He caused an alleviation of party 
warfare without altering party determinations. It had always 
been the fate of this gentleman to stand either alone, or only to 
sway a small party of friends. Upright and conscientious, he 
always was ; but it was never an easy question to settle whether 
his habitual isolation arose from fastidious honesty or mere mo- 
roseness. He never could be called doctrinaire, centre gauche, 
or gauche, or droit ; nor did he ever fluctuate between them. 
Always he preserved his personahty. Where he did take, he 
took strongly. For Count Mole he felt respect and esteem, 
which the latter reciprocated. With M. Passy he identified 
himself. But it was new and strange for this cold, reserved 
man to evince that ardor of devotion which he manifested toward 
General Cavaignac. Publicly did he declare, that in all his 
great and manifold experience of public men, he never found one 
who so completely satisfied his opinion. 

There is something unique in the air and manner as in the 
eloquence of M. Dufaure. Cold, awkward, puritanical in look, 
as he ascends the tribune, he would seem the least fitted of men 
to sway a mixed French assembly, and yet, of all who were in 
the habit of addressing the house he was the most eflective. Not 
that he was an orator in the sense in which Berryer, Thiers, 
Lamartine, or Barrot are orators, but because he was the best of 
every-day debaters. Without wasting one word in the way of 
exordium, he went directly to the question, and dull must the 
hearers have been to whom the subject, after an exposure by M. 
Dufaure, did not become as clear as light. He was ever received 
with welcome, for seldom did he mount the tribune except for 
the purpose of extricating the matter in debate from what would 
appear inextricable confusion. Sober of gesture, and yet warm 
as those are warm who are anxious to make clear important 

P 



33§ DUFAURE. 



truths, he poured forth a stream of lucid language truly refresh- 
ing to the mind. In reply, Dufaure is unrivaled, for, without 
wandering from the point, without wasting a word on extraneous 
matter, except to throw it out of his way, he goes right to the 
heart of the question, and, clearing it from sophistry, holds it up 
like a radiant gem to the eyes of his delighted auditory. 

Such a man, without being entitled to take first rank among 
statesmen or orators, and yet rejecting subordinate positions, 
filled, however, a post which no other man but himself could 
fill with the same effect. Without being witty or spirituel, he 
sometimes almost became so by his ready clearness. An example 
may suffice. While he was one day speaking, some rude mem- 
ber of the Mountain interrupted him with the continued growl 
of c&)itre revolutiojinaire. M. Dufaure stopped, and, with pun- 
gent logic, apostrophized the interrupter. " Well, I wonder that 
a gentleman who is more intelligent than I am does not compre- 
hend that he who is counter revolutionary is revolutionary." 
The fineness of the retort told on his quick-witted audience, and 
be was allowed to proceed without further interruption. If we 
have at all succeeded in conveying an idea of this distinguished 
gentleman's characteristics, the reader will understand that such 
a man by temperament is Republican. As one of the Republi- 
cans of the Gironde, his mind may, probably, be imbued with 
recollections of the famous Girondist party. Had he lived at 
the time of the Revolution, his place would, undoubtedly, have 
beeji among them. He is fitted for equality rather than domin- 
ation. His mind has not the expansive range, nor his feelings 
the breadth, nor his passions the strength necessary to give 
ascendency over men. Nor would he submit to the ascendency 
of others, for no blaze of eloquence, or attractiveness of manner, 
Qould bhnd or delude such a man to the real character of the 
subjects brought within the scope of his examination. Over him, 
there could be, therefore, no mastery. 

This man, able to enlighten and convince, but not to overrule, 
and repelling at once, by mind and temperament, all attempted 
domination, is by nature a Republican. His thorough devotion 
to Cavaignac may be explained not only by the perfect straight- 



MOLE. 339 

forwardness and clear-headedness of the Republican soldier, but 
by a readiness to submit to experienced counsel, which made 
Dui'aure his guide and friend. Such a man would never have 
conspired against the Monarch ; indeed, the Crowai was ever 
anxious to obtain his honest services, and there was no cabinet, 
however powerfully composed, but would have derived increased 
influence from liis support. When in office, he was accused of 
yielding too much to a royal master who was singularly gifted 
with the power of bending all men, coming wdthin his reach, to 
his purposes. An honest and severe mind may yet give way 
occasionally where there is an amiability of nature, and Dufaure 
has, under his reserved and almost repelling exterior, a fund of 
kindliness. 

A few days after the cabinet had been modified by the intro- 
duction of M. Dufaure and of M. Vivien, a man of great emi- 
nence appeared for the first time at the tribune — Count Mole. 
The return of this veteran statesman for Bordeaux, followed in 
a little while by that of Marshal Bugeaud for La Charente, 
produced a profound eflect on all parties. In most of the late 
single elections the Republicans had received warnings enough 
that the country had recovered from its surprise. Within doors 
the eflect was not less sensible. Thiers, Dupin, and other states- 
men had had to win their way to attention. Mole had not as- 
suredly served the Monarchy with less zeal — his name was not 
less odious to the revolutionary party — yet by the 26 th October 
had this party so shrunk back, and the old men of eminence so 
gained in ascendency, that M. Mole was spared the annoyance 
to which so many of his friends had been subjected ; and it was 
amidst expressions of respect, mingled with congratulation, that 
he rose to speak for the first time in the National Assembly. 
The question which induced him to break silence was somewhat 
nice. It was whether the election of the President of the As- 
sembly should be fixed for the 10th December. The Repubhc- 
ans would have preferred an adjournment for a year, under pre- 
text of having the organic laws, as they were called, because 
they were supposed to be indicated by the Constitution, all passed 
before the final constituent act should take place, that of ap- 



340 MOLE« 

pointing the executive head of the Republic. Men must for 
propriety sake appear to be guided by principle, while they are 
in reality swayed by notions which it is held decent to keep in 
the background. The Republicans desired the postponement, 
not for the sake of the organic laws, but because they feared 
Louis Napoleon. They hoped by m.aintaimng the provisional 
state of things for a year or so — in other words, by keeping 
Cavaignac, an undoubted Republican, in power, one with all 
the necessary qualities for making a republic respectable— that 
the new institutions would take root in the afiections of the 
country, that the prestige surrounding the name of Louis Napo- 
leon would be dissipated, and that the President would be Cav- 
aignac himself Curiously enough M. Mole made his first, in- 
deed only speech, in favor of the republican view, and more 
curiously still, the man most interested in its adoption, namely, 
General Cavaignac, opposed the postponement, insisted on an 
immediate election, and by his personal weight and influence 
effectually marred the intentions of his own friend, and of some 
of his opponents. The argument adduced by M. Mole for post- 
ponement, and by General Cavaignac against delay, took like 
ground. Both contended that until a provisional state could be 
put an end to, and a government regularly and finally consti- 
tuted, the pubhc mind could not recover tranquil assurance. 
The organic laws having been declared to form the essential 
complement of the Constitution, M. Mole would have it that 
there would still be a provisional state of things, notwithstand- 
ing the election of President, attended with this anomaly, that 
there would be on the one side an omnipotent constituent assem- 
bly which had abdicated a portion of its power, with, on the 
other side, a disarmed executive power, waiting for a future 
assembly to confer its full rights. The consequence of this mu- 
tually undefined and unsettled power must be misunderstanding 
and collision. General Cavaignac would not, however, consent 
to remain in an equivocal position. He was determined that, 
cost what it might, the country should be allowed as soon as 
possible the rightful exercise of the privilege with which it was 
endowed by the Constitution. If we must look for motives be- 



MOLE. 341 

yond the ostensible arguments advanced, we would be inclined 
to suspect that the friends of the dethroned dynasty voted with 
the Republicans from the same fear, that of the rising star of 
Louis Napoleon, only that their fear took a different direction. 
The Republicans saw in the heir of the Emperor a new empire, 
and the Royalists an intrusive dynasty. A great many were 
swayed, too, by the assurance that a prolongation of the govern- 
m.ent of Cavaignac was an assurance of protection. No party 
except the Bonapartists could have had any motive in urging on 
an election of President ; but against all parties Cavaignac stood 
out, and as much by his personal influence as by the fear that, 
if defeated, he would resign, and leave the Assembly exceedingly 
embarrassed for a successor, he carried the resolution for an early 
election. His friends, however, introduced a resolution which 
they expected would enable them to determine the election ac- 
cording to their wishes. It was resolved that unless one candi- 
date should have at least two millions of votes, and a clear half 
of all who polled, the choice should fall on the Assembly itself. 
How the calculation failed, we already know ; but to return to 
M. Mole. He must have felt that he was in a strange place. 
He who had in his young days written a political essay of such 
arbitrary flavor as to have attracted the notice of Napoleon, who 
conferred office upon him — he who, under Louis-Philippe, leant 
to an alliance with Russia, and conciliated the favor of the 
Northern Courts — there he was now an active member of a 
constituent assembly. An empire and two monarchies were but 
as shadowy recollections, and the present a shadowy chaos. Y et 
with the weight of past recollections and present cares, and with 
the load of seventy-two years. Count Mole is the youngest-look- 
ing man of his age in the world. In person he is small and 
dapper, and he dresses like a youth hardly out of his teens. His 
hair is not yet quite gray, but his face is grave and thoughtful. 
The form is long, and the lower part protrudes, and gives an ex- 
pression of raillery, in which the ex-minister sometimes fondly 
indulges. His eye is dark, bright, and intellectual. Take him alto- 
gether, he looks the fastidious courtier, at once pliant and disdain- 
ful, but, however open to criticism, an unmistakable gentleman. 



342 MOLE. 

The influence of Count Mole over tlie Chamber of Peers was 
supreme, and his influence at the Tuileries not less. When in 
power it took the united strength of a coalition of parties to 
shalce him from his seat. The handle against him was the re- 
call of the French troops from Ancona, before the liberties of 
Italy were secured. Once deprived of power, the coalition 
broke up ; Guizot parted company with Barrot, and Thiers and 
Guizot fell back on their mutual suspicions and smoldering ri- 
valry. The friends of M. Mole used to say, and perhaps believe, 
that with his fall went the consistency and solidity of the con- 
servative party. One ministry came in amidst the stormy perils 
of an erneute, to be wrecked upon an imprudent demand for a 
royal dotation, of which they disapproved. Another ministry 
was confounded by the earlier treaty of July, 1840, which 
placed France in a state of isolation, and led to the ruin- 
ous armaments and fortifications, that so fatally deranged her 
finances. At length the monarchy itself slipped through the 
fingers of the foremost of Mole's opponents in the great coali- 
tion, while under his eyes was Odilon Barrot, floundering in the 
snare into which he had fallen. M. Mole may comfort himself 
by saying, only for that unprincipled coalition all this might not 
have happened — or he may say, that had he been in power he 
might not have been able to resist the seductive manners and 
great will of the greatest sufferer of them all. What may be 
his future views can only be matter of surmise — but there he 
was, the most active and busy man in the Assembly, and it may 
be suspected that he was so in order to gratify the prevailing 
motive of his whole life — the restoration and consolidation of 
order. He did not abandon ease for the constant labor of not 
only attending the Assembly, but the harder toils of parliament- 
ary committees, and parliamentary clubs, negotiations with this 
party and that leader — and all for the mere sake of political 
vanity. Before the Monarchy fell, it had been for some time 
notorious that Count Mole and M. Thiers were on the best 
terms, and several times it had been rumored that they were 
both about to take office together. So formidable a combination 
may have had the unfortunate effect of disturbing the equanim- 



BUGEAUD. S43 



ity of rivals in office, and of inducing too much subserviency to 
a master who was well skilled in playing ofl' the passions of men 
against each other. A visit of M. Mole to court — a M^ell-at- 
tended reception of the statesman's salon — a day passed by the 
British Embassador at Champlatreux — a smart speech in the 
Chamber of Peers, would, any one of them, give rise to specu- 
lations in the political world, such as only a poHtical star of the 
first magnitude excites. 

Let us now divert our eye from a man against whom there 
was once a fatal coalition of all parties, toward one in whose 
favor there has been an enduring combination — one, indeed, so 
rare as to present a phenomenon in its way. Marshal Bugeaud 
is the spoiled child of fortune. He is great in spite of himself; 
nay, he is great in consequence of acts that would, taken singly, 
have overwhelmed another man with unpopularity. The Legit- 
imists identified him with the imprisonment of the Duchess of 
Berry, at Blaye. The Republicans connected him with some 
severe repression of troubles, and thought of the terrible sang 
froid with which he appeared in the Chamber before Dulong, 
whom he had shot in a duel, had been laid in his grave. The 
army reproached him with his treaty of Tafna, made with Abd-el 
Kader, by which the subtle Emir was enabled to gain time, re- 
cruit his strength, and lead the best generals of France a ten 
years' chase. No government could insure his obedience, and 
even toward the Court he was unruly. He planned and ordered 
the inconceivable iniquity of the suffocation of a tribe, men, wom- 
en, children, with horses and cattle, in the caverns of the Dahra. 
When finally recalled, he, contrary to orders, and to the express 
wishes of his Government, marched an army into the mountains 
of Kabylia, where dwelt a mercantile trading community — like 
all such disposed to avoid war — and then he wantonly, and with- 
out political necessity, or serious object, burned, wasted, and rav- 
aged the district. Yet this man, the torment of Marshal Soult, 
the restive servant of the Court, the plague of every Government, 
a grotesque and comical pamphleteer, has throughout all changes, 
found himself the petted, flattered, pampered idol of all parties. 
For his government of a province, in which he never fought a 



344 BUGEAUD. 



battle, he was created a Marshal of France ; for a battle on the 
borders of Morocco, with wild, irregular Moorish horsemen, who 
could not approach infantry in squares, he was made a Duke. 
By the Court his eccentricities were forgiven, because he was 
the selected sword of an expected Regency. He was called upon 
at the twelfth hour to fulfill the implied engagement, and per- 
haps he would have fulfilled it had he been allowed. The Pro- 
visional Government had hardly been installed, when Marshal 
Bugeaud offered it his adhesion. Within half a year, we behold 
him a member of the National Assembly, courted and compli- 
mented by the right benches, the champion of the middle classes ; 
and he is now under the Republic, Commander-in-Chief of the 
titular army of the Alps. Marching from town to town, pro- 
claiming himself the shield of society — allowing it to be reason- 
ably suspected that he would desire above all things to find a 
Milan in the faubourgs of the Metropolis. 

The Legitimists have forgiven him Blaye ; the Orleanists his 
hasty allegiance to the Republic ; none think, for no one ever 
did think, of reproaching him with the Dahra massacre, and his 
making a Palatinate of Kabylia. The strange favor bestowed 
on such a man, was not honorable to the Monarchy. It does not 
now speak well for the moral feelings of parties. The Marshal 
never, it is true, could be accused of subserviency ; on the con- 
trary, he was remarkable for a rude, independent audacity. 
Would he have acted so, did he not know that he was wanted ? 
He understood that service would be expected from him, such as 
he was capable of fulfilling with terrible fidelity. Backed by 
Court favor, of the steadfastness of which he had no reason to 
doubt, he cared little for the orders of superiors, and by his as- 
sumed independence gratified his vanity. That which is sur- 
prising is, that this man should be above all the hero of the mid- 
dle classes. The National Guard have unbounded confidence in 
him. He is to those guardians of society menaced by the Social- 
ist, that which he was to the Court menaced by the Republicans. 
He speaks much, and writes much, professes to be an agricultur- 
ist, as well as a warrior. He is a William Cobbett in his farm, 
a Duke of Alba in the field. Full of external bonhommie, but 



BUGEAUD. 345 

with a heart of steel. In person he is large and coarse, yet his 
silver hair and ruddy complexion please the eye, and in some 
degree explain his personal attractiveness. No man with the 
same homely good look, ever executed hardier acts. Blaye was 
a more objectionable duty than St. Helena, and the erudite pages 
of Sismondi have to be searched for a pendaiit to the Dahra. 



CHAPTER XL, 

PROMULGATION OF THE CONSTITUTION GENERAL CAVAIGNAC ■ 

ELECTION FOR FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC. 

On the evening of the 4th November the cannon of the In- 
vahds startled the citizens of Paris. After a moment of panic, 
it was understood that there was no insurrection, and the guns 
which recalled the gloomy impressions of June, were now pealing 
a welcome to the Constitution, which had been passed by a ma- 
jority of 739 to 30. 

After the motion of the grave M. Dufaure, it had furthermore 
been decreed that the Constitution should be inaugurated by a 
fete in the Place de la Concorde, and Sunday, the 12th, was 
fixed for the ceremonial. The day proved most unpropitious ; 
the very perfection of November weather ; atmosphere sad and 
heavy ; rain, mingled with snow-flakes, melting as they fell ; 
nor did popular enthusiasm make up for the depressing effects of 
the elements. The people showed in difference. There was no 
spontaneous procession, or delegation, or illumination. The cere- 
mony passed according to the official programme, and there was 
an end of it. Inferences enough were drawn from this manifesta- 
tion of popular apathy, the most moderate of which was that the 
Revolution had produced disappointment. 

The candidates for the Presidency of the Republic were now 
fairly in the field. A little time showed that there were only 
two who could dispute the great prize — General Cavaignac and 
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. The first had all the claims desir- 
able from proved personal merit and eminent services afibrded to 
his country. The other bore a great name ; and, if he had com- 
mitted great faults, he had paid the atonement of great sufferings, 
which he had patiently borne and ennobled by study. 

Within the five months that General Cavaignac governed 
France he had given proofs of every qualification necessary to 



CHARGES AGAINST CAVAIGNAC— HIS DEFENSE. 347 

the head of a popularly ruled state but one — eloquence, in the 
highest sense of the word. The jealousy and enmity of a clique 
broke out in the nick of time, and afforded him the opportunity 
of making a great speech. It reached the ears of General Cav- 
aignac that some members of the Government, which had been 
cashiered by the Assembly in June, the second day of the Insur- 
rection, were preparing a sort of literary infernal machine which 
would blow his reputation to pieces. The chief agent in the 
plot was M. Barthelemy St. Hilaire, a gentleman who enjoyed 
some reputation as one of the professors at the Sorbonne. M. 
St. Hilaire had prepared a history of the Insurrection, the object 
of which was to show, partly through insinuation and partly 
through direct charges, that the insurrection had been owing, in 
the first instance, to the willful neglect of precaution on the part 
of the Minister of War, namely, Cavaignac, and that its protrac- 
tion with the consequent sacrifices of life, might be attributed to 
his military incapacity. 

General Cavaignac determined that the charges prepared 
against him, notoriously by members of the Assembly, should be 
openly preferred in the Assembly, and Professor St. Hilaire had 
the honor of reviving the Greek custom of reading liis history in 
public, but alas I he won no crown, gahied no applause, and 
carried off no prize. 

The charges as recapitulated by the accused General himself 
were : That he had neglected the orders given him to have a 
sufficient number of troops in Paris ; that he had not followed 
the instructions addressed to him in writing the night preceding 
the insurrection, and which, if executed, would have prevented 
the outbreak. That his general system of defense was defective f 
that he had no artillery at hand, and could only procure it with 
great difficulty from Vincennes ; and that, in fact, the leading 
motive of his conduct was to bring about that which actually 
took place, in respect to himself, his elevation to the dictatorship. 

The history which has already been given in the course of this 
work of that terrible insurrection, precludes the necessity of going 
through the details of the General's celebrated defense. In gen- 
eral terms, it may be said that he proved that he had assembled 



348 CAVAIGNAC. 



in the neighborhood of Paris the troops ordered by the Executive 
Commissioner of Government ; that he never disobeyed any 
order ; that his plan of defense had been arranged beforehand, 
with the concmTence of two of the ablest generals of the day ; 
while as to his ma^noBuvres to have himself made dictator, he dis- 
proved the charge completely. 

What we have to do here is to note the effect produced by 
this speech. It was immense. Hitherto the qualities attributed 
to Cavaignac were good sense and good intentions. He had 
come before the world an almost unknown man. He had never 
held a chief command in Algeria before February ; but as Colonel 
and then Brigadier Cavaignac, he had been esteemed as a highly 
meritorious officer. He was a man who never sought to push 
himself into notice or to attract attention to his acts. He drew 
up a report once of an affair in which he had been severely 
wounded, without mentioning his wound. Appointed Governor 
of Algeria by the Provisional Government, he set at once about 
his duties, and it was remarked that the first paper which he 
issued on his appointment was of a singularly superior kind. 
Called home to take the post of Minister of War, he applied him- 
self to the duties of his department as if he had no other object 
to attend to. He sought not to attract attention to himself by 
speeches, and he dreamed not of intrigues. When, to his clear 
judgment, a battle was impending, he prepared to meet it ; when 
it came, he mounted his horse and inspected the barricades with 
that concentrated intensity of purpose v/hich would not allow 
him to ward off the balls flying about his head. 

Elevated to the head of the government, he applied himself to 
the study of foreign affairs, and having satisfied his mind that 
peace was for the interests of France, he determined that no 
earthly consideration should induce him to entangle the country 
in a war, so long as her honor was not affected. Taking the 
lead in every debate, he never said a word more than was essen- 
tial for the purpose of making known the views of government. 
Nor would he have spoken at all if he did not deem it to be his 
duty to accept, frankly, the burthen that had been placed on his 
shoulders. Regarding situations exactly as they were, lie recogr 



CAVAIGNAC. 349 



iiized that pending the proposition of the Constitution his govern- 
ment was only provisional ; that the Assembly was master, and 
that he should, as in duty bound, execute the wishes of the As- 
sembly so long as he held its confidence. 

When the Red Republic was refuted, he parted company with 
Red Republicans ; and when Conservative principles were shown 
to be those of the parliament and of the country, he opened places 
in his Cabinet to Conservative members ; and all this he did 
without the sacrifice of the great principle of Republican govern- 
ment. 

It is told of him that when once asked by his superior if he 
would draw his sword against Republicans, he answered no, and 
resigned. His superior esteemed him so much that he made him 
withdraw his resignation. 

As a statesman, he acted on the same principle. The As- 
sembly commanded his obedience so long as he could obey with 
honor. For the Republic he would fight to the death : such 
was Cavaignac, such his singleness of view and purpose : never 
seeking to do more than the necessities of the moment required, 
and then performing his immediate duty with masterly power 
and entire self-devotion. 

Challenged at length to make a defense of his general conduct 
— he set about his task, as an advocate would have done, and 
delivered such a speech as the most eloquent speaker at the bar 
could not probably have surpassed. The gracefulness of his 
delivery was not less remjwkable than the method of his arrange- 
ment. His readiness and repartee were not less lively and spark- 
ling than the clearness of his statement and the cogency of his 
argument. The whole was set off with a high-bred courtesy, 
that savored of the court more than the camp, while delicate 
irony stood in the place of invective. 

The election of General Cavaignac to the Presidency of the 
Republic was by his partisans deemed secure. The incarnate 
expression of the Republic had arisen. The man had been found 
whom no situation had taken by surprise ; and as all situations 
had been met and filled with perfect ability, the measure of such 
a man's capacity'" could not even yet be said to have been reached. 



350 CAVAIGNAC. 



New trials were before the Republic, and there was the man, 
who, holding a true straightforward course, and taking things as 
he found them, could yet adapt himself to an encounter with any 
difficulty with marvelous plasticity. The eloquent oration threw 
back a blaze on previous acts ; nor was it a manifestation of 
power artfully concealed until the critical moment, for sake of a 
dazzling surprise : so reasoned his friends, and so thought just 
men, who tried to spell the design of Providence in allowing 
great and perplexing changes. 

For a moment parties opposed to the Republic seemed con- 
founded ; but they quickly rallied, and, with the perverse sophistry 
of party, next drew reasons from the versatile talent of the man 
for renewed efforts against him. It was whispered that, until 
the moment when he was stung into putting forth his powers, 
he had cunningly vailed them ; his modesty, reserve, and pro- 
fessions in favor of order, although professions authenticated by 
acts, were merely put on until his enemies, deceived by an ap- 
pearance of limited ability, and the timid, entrapped by the hope 
of protection through his firm probity, and the constitutionist, 
attracted by his apparent readiness to lean on the moderate for 
advice, should combine to place him at the head of the State — 
and then away would fly the mask — down would go the legal 
crutches, and out would fly the sword beneath the banner of the 
Red Republic. " There is more in that man than we know," 
became the watch-word of party. Besides those who conscien- 
tiously apprehended that a moderate Republic was not possible, 
there were others who did not desire to see a Republic, even if 
moderate, consolidated. In the eyes of such persons the virtues 
of Cavaignac told against him. 

If any man could consolidate a Republic in France, he was 
that man. In look — in manner — in conduct, he was the beau 
ideal of the Republican ; not of the sans culotte school, but the 
patrician Republican of Pvome. At the prime of life — tall, well- 
formed, and dignified ; with the proud head of a Coriolanus, and 
the sensibility of the stoical Brutus. His quickness to feel sus- 
picion or slight, explains why he shunned occasions for display. 
This characteristic quality explains, too, his tenure of office in 



CAVAIGNAO. 351 



times so difficult ; for his readiness to resign power secured power 
in his hands ; and it furthermore explains why he is not now 
President of the Republic ; for the unwillingness to be supposed 
desirous of postponing the election that he might cling as long as 
possible to place, precipitated the victory of his rival. Thus, 
brave, proud, sensitive, dignified, able, and unostentatious ; full 
of republican zeal, and yet anxious for the maintenance of all 
social rights, as consecrated by the sentiments, habits, religion, 
and laws of society ; a moral and military disciphnarian ; it 
would seem as if Providence had sent the right man at the right 
time to the French people, and they rejected him. Rejecting, 
they revered and esteemed him ; wherefore, there can be but one 
answer, " they did not want the Republic." 

A few days previous to the election, a circumstance of an un- 
fortunate description occurred, of which the enemies of General 
Cavaignac were enabled to take advantage. Among the many 
strange acts of the Provisional Government was the preparation 
of a pension list for suffering political offenders. The strange- 
ness was not in the principle of such a measure, but in the 
classification of worthy sufferers. The family of Fieschi were 
set down for pensions. The relations of Lecomte, who fired a 
blunderbuss into the cliar-a-baiic, where were seated the family 
of Louis-Philippe ; these relations of the regicide had their claims 
acknowledged, although Lecomte had not even the palliative in 
repubhcan eyes, of fanaticism ; for his sole motive was revenge, 
because he had been dismissed from his situation of wood-ranger. 
In fine, a pack of villains were placed on this pension list, whose 
names figured by the side of some other names of character. 

The report of the Provisional Government was probably for- 
gotten. It passed into the hands of M. Senard, when that gen- 
tleman became Minister of the Interior, who, simply looking at 
the decree, without, it is charitably to be presumed, examining 
the appended lists, presented it to General Cavaignac for signa- 
ture. The decree thus signed lay by until M. Dufaure became 
minister ; and M. Dufaure, without undoing the parcel, sent it 
to some committee, and there the discovery was made. The 
signature of General Cavaignac was held to make him answer- 



352 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 



able for intentions of which he was completely ignorant. Ad- 
mitting this, it was yet with some reason said, " Behold repub- 
Jican morality," and the Republic, in its abstract character, was 
stained with the exposure. Events which occurred at Rome a 
little previously, were not without influence upon the election for 
presidency. 

The Prime Minister of the Pope, Count Rossi, was assassinated 
on the fifteenth of November, at the moment he was entering 
the chamber of Representatives. Very terrible and disgraceful 
scenes followed. The Pope's secretary, a Cardinal, had been 
killed ; and the Pope himself was in danger. As soon as in- 
formation of these events reached the French Government, Gen- 
eral Cavaignac promptly resolved to offer the assistance of France 
to the head of the Cathohc Church ; a special envoy was at once 
dispatched to his Holiness, and a brigade of troops ordered to 
embark for Civita Vecchia. In the mean time the Pope had 
taken refuge in the kingdom of Naples, and the proffered aid 
became unnecessary. Count de Montalamibert, the organ of the 
Catholic body, publicly thanked General Cavaignac in the As- 
sembly, and then canvassed against him. The man was respect- 
ed ; but the Republic incurred fresh odium for the excesses of 
Roman demagogueism. With Cavaignac the cause of Republi- 
canism was identified, and he who struck down demagogueism 
with his sword, paid the penalties of its extravagance under all 
forms, and in no matter what country. 

The election day arrived. The weather was of extraordinary 
fineness and beauty for the season ; the animal spirits of the 
people rose cheerfully. The name of Napoleon proved a charm 
for the peasantry, who marched to the polling places with out- 
spread banners. In the leading towns Cavaignac was well sup- 
ported ; but the farmers and peasantry voted en QJiasse for the 
heir of the Emperor. It was calculated that it would take a 
fortnight, at least, to examine the votes ; but the result was not 
doubtful from the first hour. Conjectures of an injurious charac- 
ter to the head of the State were hazarded by people who did 
not know the man ; but an opportunity was soon afforded for 
demonstrating their un worthiness. General Cavaignac was be- 



TRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 353 



% 



sieged with entreaties, under every possible form, to grant an 
amnesty to the prisoners who were paying the penalty of their 
crimes against society in June. Prayers were addressed to him 
in private — no means calculated to excite his pride, to pique his 
vanity, to tempt his love of popularity, to open prospects of a 
new party leadership, were withheld ; such entreaties failing, 
motions were made in the Assembly, and had he consented to act 
merely a passive part, the amnesty had been voted. He resolved 
to resign his authority in all its plenitude to his successor, and 
even to afford him the advantages of an act of grace, should 
policy warrant its performance. 

On the evening of the 20th of December, an unusual move- 
ment was observed in Paris. Troops, appearing in all directions, 
were seen converging to one point — the National Assembly. 
The Place de la Concorde, the quays, the avenues to the Assem- 
bly, bristled with bayonets, and were animated by cavalry. It 
had been resolved upon suddenly to proclaim the President of the 
Repubhc, without waiting until all the votes had been counted. 
The reason assigned for this step was, to defeat by anticipation 
the suspected designs of a party, to carry Louis Napoleon from 
the Assembly to the Tuileries, and there abrogate the oath to 
the Repubhc, by proclaiming him Emperor. Within the As- 
sembly there was no less surprise than without. The public in 
the galleries were amazed and delighted, when an uninteresting 
discussion about the printing of the debates was interrupted, to 
allow of a ceremonial being performed, destined to become a page 
in history. On the invitation of the President of the Assembly, 
M. Waldeck Pwousseau ascended the tribune, and read the report 
of the Committee, stating that, so faT as their inquiries had pro- 
ceeded, it appeared that 7,327,345 had been ascertained, and 
were divided as follows : — 

The Citizen Louis Napoleon Bonaparte obtained . . 5,434,226 

The Citizen Cavaignac 1,448,107 

, The Citizen Ledm-Rollin 370,119 

The Citizen Raspail 36,920 

The Citizen Lamartine 17,910 

General Cavaignac rose, and without preface, handed in the 



354 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 

resignation of ministers, adding simply, " I come also to resign 
into the hands of the Assembly the power with which it was 
good enough to invest me. The Assembly will comprehend, 
much better than I can express, the sentiments of gratitude that 
its confidence and kindness have ineffaceably engraved on my 
memory." A burst of enthusiastic plaudits accompanied the gal- 
lant General to his seat. The successful candidate was then 
proclaimed President of the Republic, and after a short address, 
delivered with fervor — an address conceived in the most unos- 
tentatious language, and breathing of peace and concord, Louis 
Napoleon descended from the tribune and walked to the place 
where sat his honored rival, whose hand he respectfully took and 
pressed amidst renewed applause. The Assembly needed no fresh 
proof of the magnanimity of Cavaignac ; but the behavior of 
Louis Napoleon, at this, the first hour of his trial, produced a 
most favorable impression, and tended to remove many preju- 
dices. In a few minutes after, the President of the Republic 
left the Assembly, in company with his Prime Minister, Odilon 
Barrot. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

FIRST CABINET UNDER LOUIS NAPOLEON M. DE MALEVILLE, HIS 

SUCCESSFUL DEBUT, AND IMMEDIATE RETIREMENT CHANGES 

M. PASSY. 

The composition of the Cabinet appeared the next day in the 
Moniteur. In old times it would have been called a coalition 
ministry ; at present it was entitled a conciliation one. Odilon 
Barrot took the comparatively subordinate post of Minister of 
Justice. His so doing was not without significance. The mag- 
istracy had been disorganized, the administration of justice had 
been lax ; the Prime Minister, in placing himself at the head of 
the law, implied that his first business would be to set the dis- 
jointed framework of society aright. The Foreign Affairs were 
intrusted to M. Drouyn de I'Huys, a gentleman who had proved 
the independence of his spirit by opposing a former administra- 
tion, and forfeiting in consequence the direction of the commercial 
department of the Foreign Office. His demeanor was in accord- 
ance with his character, being that of a frank, courageous, intel- 
ligent man. The War Department was assigned to General 
Ruilhiere, who under the monarchy was reckoned a Conservative. 
To the mild and humane de Tracy was given the Marine. M. 
Leon de Maleville and M. Leon Faucher took, the first the Min- 
istry of the Interior, the latter the Department of Public Works. 
M. Bixio, a Republican de la veille, was made Minister of Com- 
merce. M. de Falloux, Minister of Public Instruction and Re- 
ligion ; and to M. Passy was confided that most important post, 
the Minister of Finance. 

One of the first acts of the Cabinet marked in a way not to be 
mistaken its determination to deal vigorously with factions, should 
they renew their armed attempts against society. General Chan- 
garnier, already Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard of 



356 THE NEW CABINET— DE MALEVILLE. 

Paris, was appointed commander of the first military division, 
embracing the garrison of Paris. This was an immense concen- 
tration of power in the hands of one man. Many objections 
were urged against it, but they were overborne by the considera- 
tion that such unity of action in the hands of so able and intelli- 
gent a general, would enable him to provide so rapidly against 
factious manoeuvres, that they would be paralyzed at once. The 
first trial of strength between the Cabinet and the Opposition was 
on this subject : — The day after Christmas, M. Ledru-Rollin 
vigorously attacked the Government for an appointment which he 
argued, book in hand, to be illegal and unconstitutional. Odilon 
Barrot, hampered by his scrupulous respect for law, made so qual- 
ified a defense as to encourage his adversary to come a second 
time to the charge ; bat the latter was now to encounter a new 
antagonist. M. Leon de Maleville had not, until he was appoint- 
ed minister, taken any part in public discussion, although in the 
old Chamber of Deputies he had signalized himself by his easy 
wit and lively elocution. 

A few friends of M. Thiers seemed to have entered into some 
compact, either not to hazard the rudeness to which their chief 
had exposed himself, or by silence to mark their disdain. By the 
side of de Maleville sat the philosophic Charles de Remusat, a 
mute but watchful observer, keeping as clear from intrigues as 
he did from the tribune. Remusat would not take office ; Male- 
ville did ; and his first appearance, coming after the leader of 
the Mountain, was watched with curiosity. The two men bore 
a certain resemblance to each other — so much so, that, on the 
breaking out of the June insurrection, and at a moment when 
the National Guards were incensed against Ledru-Rollin, whom 
they suspected of treason, de Maleville had been set upon by a 
group of this civic corps, he having been mistaken for the burly 
member of the Executive Commission. 

Alike as the two men were in size and appearance, de Male- 
ville had the advantage of possessing an ample fund of happy 
turns of expression, which used to be so characteristically French, 
and which is every day becoming more rare.. Few of the best 
leading men are able to season their discourse with wit- — Ledru- 



MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES. 357 

Rollin not at all. When de Maleville opened a new and unac- 
customed fire of pungent pleasantries upon his violent yet solemn 
adversary, and raised a roar of laughter v^'hich pursued him up 
the Mountain, the discomfiture was so evident, that the battle 
was already won. "I am happy," began de Maleville, "to hear 
the Minister of the Interior of the Provisional Government evince 
such scruples on the score of legality." 

The recollection of the outrageous violations of law achieved 
by Ledru-Rollin, contrasted with the two speeches he had last 
delivered, when put so neatly before the Assembly, told very 
happily. " I am yet more pleased to find how little taste he has 
for unlimited powers." The Commissaries of Ledru-Rollin, armed 
*' with unlimited powers," being thus brought to mind, caused the 
satirical laughter to be renewed ; and when with a courteous but 
humorous bow the minister congratulated his adversary on his im- 
proved constitutional manners, the Assembly backed the sarcasm 
with its applause. 

The Cabinet had started off well. A match was found for the 
affected successor of Danton. The lion's skin had been torn off 
his shoulders. He was but a sham Danton, and his roarings 
thenceforward would have only brought back the " countryman 
with his cudgel." To the surprise and concern of the public, it 
was learned that on the day after his triumph, M. de Maleville 
had thrown up office, in consequence of a personal dispute with 
the President of the Republic about the surrender of some records, 
which the latter deemed injurious to his ieelings, but which the 
former did not feel himself authorized to surrender. With M. de 
Maleville, the representative of the Republican party in the Cab- 
inet, M. Bixio, withdrew. M. Faucher was raised to the Min- 
istry of the Interior, M. Lacrosse took M. Faucher's portfolio of 
Public Works, and M. Buffet succeeded M. Bixio. The effect 
of this change was not agreeable to the public. 

There were but two men of commanding reputation in the 
Cabinet, Odilon Barrot and Hippolyte Passy. The others were 
certainly able and honorable men ; but their merits remained to 
be proved. They had not even made distinguished figures in 
Parliament, much less held the reins of Government. It was 



358 MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES. 

known too, indeed it could not be unknown, that the President of the 
RepubUc, who had taken the personal friends of Mole and Thiers, 
and at their instigation and advice, would have much more will- 
ingly accepted the service of the chiefs than the subordinates ; 
and a feeling of commiseration sprung up lor this well-intentioned 
ruler, who would have surrounded himself, and did, so far as 
opportunity afforded, surround himself with the most eminent 
political guides, taken from all sections of constitutional Conserv- 
atism. 

The credit of Odilon Barot began to rise the more that his 
frankness and courage contrasted with the reserve manifested by 
others. Another blow awaited the new administration — and it 
was to come from the Chambers. The Minister of Finance had 
to grapple with enormous difficulties, owing to the embarrassed 
state of the Exchequer ; and yet he had hardly entered on his 
functions when a successful proposition to abandon a great portion 
of the lucrative salt tax, came to derange his calculations and 
perplex his plans for bringing the finances into an orderly state. 
Happily for the country, M. Passy remained steadfast to his post; 
but it became manifest to ministers that they could not hope to 
carry out any general scheme of policy in so unfriendly an as- 
sembly. 

At this conjuncture the Republicans tendered their homage to 
the President, but he remained steadfast to his advisers, with hon- 
orable fidelity : and by the straightforwardness of his conduct, 
went far to put an end to those suspicions of intrigue with which 
it was taken for granted the hotel of the Presidency must be filled. 
It was not only that the Constituent could not be reckoned upon, 
but it was known that the President and his Ministers were not 
quite agreed as to their relative position. The Ministers were 
imbued with the old Constitutional doctrine of sole Ministerial 
responsibility, while the President felt that the responsibility 
placed on his own shoulders, threw him into a position widely 
differing from that of a king, who can do no wrong. Both, 
however, appeared to resolve, that until a new Assembly should 
be got together, the consideration of all great questions should, so 
far as it was possible, be placed in abeyance. 



PASSY. 359 

Let us direct our observation a little to M. Passy. He had 
served in office under the INIonarchy, with M. Dufaure, and such 
was the close political connection that sprung up between these 
two gentlemen, that the name of one could not be mentioned 
without that of the other suggesting itself ; like qualities of mind 
and manners are not essential to close friendship, although the 
broad basis of a common principle may be. If M. Dufaure be 
cold and reserved, M. Passy is fresh and frank — a fine, bald- 
headed, personable gentleman. There is much difference, too, in 
the mental accomplishments and eloquence of each. M. Dufaure 
is singularly lucid, but confined. M. Passy possesses, on the 
other hand, that great power of generalization, which is the fruit 
of ample reading with inward digestion, habitual reflection, and 
constant habit of exposition. No one can say more in a few 
words. Within a speech of less than half an hour, he would 
give a financial statement to the Opposition, that if not unan- 
swerable, few could answer. Yet this matter of finance is not 
his special pursuit, for Passy is a philosophic statesman. His 
little hrochure on the inequalities of wealth, written as a correct- 
ive of those false and extravagant notions put forward by the 
Communists, contains, within some fifty pages, more pregnant 
matter, easily portable to the memory of the plain, inquiring 
mind, than could readily be found within the same space in any 
modern work. On this account it is much more useful than the 
diffuse and elaborate essay of Thiers, and reminds the reader of 
some of those celebrated essays, so terse, thoughtful, and weighty, 
which were furnished by the French writers of the seventeenth 
century. Thiers can not generalize. He can analyze and deal 
with details, until he arrives at his conclusion as the result of the 
whole, instead of enabling the mind to measure the extent of a 
wide question by the light of a great principle or pregnant sug- 
gestion. Thiers is among political writers, that which Balzac is 
among novelists, whose descriptions have been compared to an 
auctioneer's inventory. Passy gives you the elixir, but spares 
you the details of the process. It is curious, that of the two 
great friends, Dufaure became the mainstay of General Cavaignac, 
and Passy the great bond of the first cabinet of Louis Napoleon. 



360 PASSY. 

Had he resigned, upon his defeat on the salt tax, the Ministry 
should have broken up. Although he resolved to present no 
financial measures until there should be a new Chamber, yet 
his name and his presence served to revive public confidence in a 
remarkable degree. Such is the value of character, such the 
advantage of reputation. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

MOVEMENT AGAINST THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY PROPOSITION FOFo 

DISSOLUTION PIERRE BONAPARTE HEADS THE OPPOSITION HIS 

EXTRAORDINARY DEMEANOR RESOLUTION OF ODILON BARROT 

STORMY DEBATE PARTY INTRIGUES VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE 

REPUBLIC IMPEACHMENT OF MINISTERS PARIS THPvEATENED 

WITH ANOTHER REVOLUTION ASSEMBLY AT LENGTH RESOLVES 

ITS DISSOLUTION GENERAL CAVAIGNAC AND GENERAL CHAN- 

GARNTER. 

As a consequence of the dispositions that had been made evi- 
dent by the election of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, a cry arose 
for the dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly. It 
was urged that the Assembly elected under the immediate influ- 
ence of a revolution against which the country had now appear- 
ed to enter its protest, was in duty bound to retire before such a 
manifestation of the popular will. It had besides accomplished 
its mission. The Constitution being made, the Constituent lost 
its title ; nor could it by an effort of its own put itself in har- 
mony with the wishes of the country or with the head of the 
state, now the recognized expression of those wishes. The Presi- 
dent, by his selection of a ministry from the Conservative ranks, 
had himself shown in what light he regarded his own nomina- 
tion. The country, by the movement which was beginning 
against the Assembly, whose first acts were in hostility to his 
Cabinet, proved, on the other hand, that the President was not 
mistaken. To have resisted such a movement would have bcuii 
dangerous. Had the Constituent persisted in opposing the will 
of the country, the end of the Republic might have been antici- 
pated. However loudly parties may talk, and whatever airs of 
dignity they may assume, they instinctively seize the true char- 
acter of their position. Thp Constituent knew that to stand 
out against the country would be to make an Emperor. The 

Q 



362 PIERRE BONAPARTE. 



question then resolved itself into the most decent manner of 
dying. 

An obscure individual, whose name had not been heard of 
before, was induced " to rush in where leade7-s feared to tread," 
and to hazard the delicate proposition. M. Rateau moved that 
the Assembly should at once settle the day of dissolution. The 
12th January was fixed for taking the motion into consideration. 
In the mean time parties out of doors were considerably excited. 
The Republicans were furious, for they dreaded an election. 
Petitions for and against dissolution were hawked about for sig- 
nature. Those in favour of dissolution outnumbered by far the 
others ; but the Republicans gained, as they conceived, a great 
advantage in the person of Pierre Bonaparte, When the mo- 
tion was announced from the chair, M. Deseze, a Legitimist, 
supported the affirmative in a temperate, argumentative speech, 
gracefully delivered ; and it was to him that Pierre Bonaparte 
rose to reply. Pierre is the brother of the Prince of Canino, 
one of the leaders of the Roman demagogues ; and Pierre aspired 
to similar rank in Paris. The man is of violent temper, of 
which he gave a proof once by inflicting a wound with a knife 
on a person with whom he had a quarrel. He is not only vio- 
lent, but in dress and appearance extremely vulgar. He usually 
wears a cutaway green coat, with brass buttons, and looks like a 
horse dealer. His broad face bears no resemblance to the Bona- 
parte family ; but viewed in profile, the shape of the head is like 
that of his more elegant cousin, the son of Jerome. Pitching his 
voice to a shout, he declaimed against the audacity of anti-rev- 
olutionary factions, which dared to prejudge the decision of the 
Assembly as to the period of its glorious mission. He protested 
that such a question ought not to have been allowed to be 
raised, and he denounced what he called the impious crusade 
that had been preached against the Assembly. " It is time," 
he said, '< to impose silence on those rebels in open revolt. 
Whatever decree the Assembly would choose to adopt, it should 
be religiously respected, under pain of being declared traitors to 
their country. Such decree would," he affirmed, " be respected in 
the name of the democratic Republic and of the sovereign peo- 



QUESTION OF DISSOLUTION. 363 



pie." This speech, which the aspiring brother of Canino read, 
was pronounced with a dull vehemence which partook rather of 
an unintelligent turbulence than of impassioned conviction, but it 
derived a certain degree of importance from the man's position. 
The Mountain was in a frenzy of delight ; the right benches 
looked astounded. Perhaps they marveled at the happy dis- 
pensation of Providence that Pierre was not the born heir. 

The debate had proceeded for some time, when at length 
Odilon Barrot rose to state the views of the Government. He 
said that however confident the Assembly might feel in its own 
strength, it was his profound conviction that a body which had 
fulfilled its mission could not prolong its existence in presence of an. 
executive power which had sprung from a movement different 
from that to which the Assembly owed its own origin. There 
was an incompatibility between both. While such a situation 
lasted, it would be impossible for any ministry to take long views 
or attempt important reform. Not contented with mere reason- 
ing of an abstract kind, the minister frankly ran through the 
impediments that had been thrown in the way of the Govern- 
ment. The speech was interrupted at almost each sentence ; 
one cried that he was presenting an act of accusation against the 
Assembly ; another gave the minister a gross contradiction. M. 
Portalis exclaimed, " Allez-vous-en,'' and this rude cry of " be- 
gone," shocked the Assembly at the time of its greatest excite- 
ment. M. Portalis had filled high legal functions under the 
Monarchy ; had in old times been a Legitimist ; bore the title 
of Baron ; turned republican, and signalizing himself by the vio- 
lence of his sentiments, was made first Procureur-General of the 
Republic ; resigned his office in a pique ; and now betrayed how 
completely all sense of dignity was extinguished by this utterance 
of a gross insult, for which he was called to order. Reduced to 
its simplest expression, the speech of M. Odilon Barrot amounted 
to this : that the Assembly had no right to sit any longer ; that 
if it did persist in protracting the session, the ministry would not 
feel called upon either to submit to its decrees, or to present any 
law for its adoption. So bold a speech was blamed pretty gen- 
erally ; it brought the dispute to a crisis, and such a crisis as 



364 VICE PRESIDENCY— BOULAY. 



could only be settled by a coup d'Hat on the part of the Gov- 
ernment, or a popular manifestation, such as could not be resisted. 
Would the Assembly challenge such an alternative ? 

The Opposition, headed by Pierre Bonaparte, tried to win 
over the President with the hope that he would change his 
Ministers, and throw himself on the Republican party. An op- 
portunity for pleasing him was afforded by the election of Vice- 
President of the Republic. It was well known that the Con- 
servatives desired to have M. Vivien appointed to that high 
office. The sentiments of the President could only be known 
by the order in which he would place his three names on the 
list for selection by the Assembly. He placed M. Boulay de la 
Meurthe first, General Baraguay d'Hilliars secand, and M. 
Vivien last, and the majority, out of deference to the feelings of 
the President, returned M. Boulay, on Saturday, the 20th Jan- 
uary. As the Vice-President of the Republic is, ex-officio, Pres- 
ident of the Council of State, M. Vivien would, on that account, 
have been remarkably well fitted by his attainments for such a 
position. M. Boulay, a thorough Bonapartist, whose father had 
been greatly esteemed by the Emperor, was known favorably on 
account of the interest which he took in charitable institutions 
and the education of the people ; and as it was to those points 
the President had indicated his intention of directing his views, 
the selection of M. Boulay was not ill-advised. He is a corpulent 
dignitary, with a pleasant, rubicund visage, and if the Republicans 
could only have won over so cordial and so trusted an interme- 
diary, there might yet be an overthrow of the Barrot ministry. 
It would seem, however, that notwithstanding the vehemence af 
M. Boulay's republican professions " he loved," we fear we must 
alter the line, " not Rome less, but Csesar more." A bold move 
was now made by the Ministers, met by a bolder one on the 
part of the Opposition. On Saturday next following, a demand 
for the! suppression of political Clubs was presented by Ministers . 
They were defeated on the point of urgency or priority, and M. 
Ledru-Pv.ollin moved an impeachment. 

The following Monday merits historical note. At an early 
hour in the morning the rappel was beaten for the National 



APPREHENDED COUP D'ETAT. 365 

Guards to turn out, and in the course of the morning the city- 
was occupied militairement, that is to say, at all the strategic 
points there were placed a body of troops and a company of 
National Guards in full fighting trim. The general emotion 
was extreme, the more so as no one could explain to his own 
satisfaction the cause for such an immense display of troops. 
The more general impression was, that the Government had 
resolved upon a coup d'etat by a summary dismissal of the 
Assembly, an impression entertained by many to the present 
hour, and which will probably never be completely eradicated. 
The Assembly had not frankly and unreservedly accepted Louis 
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it had begmi by thwarting his Govern- 
ment, and it had received, without protest, an Act of Accusation. 
On the other hand, the Cabinet had, at once, and at the same 
time, told the Assembly that its title had ceased, and pronounced 
the Clubs an obstacle to Government. Very specious reasons 
might have preceded an ordinance for the dissolution of the 
Constituent, yet the experiment, unless sanctioned by the voice 
of the people, might have proved fatal. When Louis Napoleon 
Bonaparte rode out unexpectedly that morning, and presented 
himself in all directions, throwing himself completely unprotected 
mto the arms of the people, the suspicion was confirmed that he 
sought in popular manifestations the final reason for consummat- 
ing the wish of his official advisers. The Government, on the 
other hand, affirmed that they were in possession of a plot to 
renew the battle of June. An opportunity had certainly been 
thrown in the way of the standing staff of the Socialist con- 
spiracy, which such astute, bold, and ready desperadoes were 
not likely to neglect. The term of the expiration of service of the 
garde mobile was approaching, and notwithstanding the brilliant 
courage exhibited by these civic troops in June, there was much 
reason to fear that they had been worked upon by the inde- 
fatigable agents of the Clubs. They were children of Paris, 
who had been swept from idleness and mischief, and ranged on 
the side of order by the decree of the Provisional Government, 
which, at the suggestion of M. Lamartine, created a garde mobile. 
They were all thoroughly imbued with a republican spirit, and 



366 THE GARDE MOBILE— SUSPECTED PLOTS. 

since the change of Government they had, many of them, been 
persuaded that they were now soldiers of the reaction. Here, 
then, was this formidable force about to be virtually disbanded 
for sake of admitting of a reorganization, by which the number 
would have been reduced one-half, the pay considerably diminish- 
ed., and the new corps subjected to change of quarters — from 
the pleasant pranks enjoyed in the gay and voluptuous Paris, 
among citizens who had assisted them, with expressions of grati- 
tude, to, in all probability, the burning sands of Algeria. 

With several thousands of well-disciplined fellows, accustomed 
to barricade fighting, taken from the side of Government and 
placed behind those impromptu fortifications, which they formerly 
had so successfully attacked, it is not surprising that the hopes 
of the Clubs should have revived. The leaders had on their 
side the violated Clubs, a large portion of the Assembly, all those 
who believed that the Constitution had been infringed upon, with 
a ready army whose passions were inflamed. There was a third 
party which suspected that General Changarnier feigned alarm for 
the sake of finding a pretext for showing how complete were his own 
plans for taking military'- possession of the city, and demonstrat- 
ing that he had rendered an emeute impossible. It would not 
be difficult to muster partisans according to these three categories ; 
believers in a coup d'etat ; believers in an actual conspiracy ; and 
believers in an old soldier's trick. Those disposed to believe in 
a conspiracy, would probably dwell on the suspicious physiognomy 
of the city on the Monday morning of the 29th January. They 
would ask, Who are those men in blouses, so well mounted, who 
were galloping here and there, and drawing up to whisper direc- 
tions to pedestrians in blouses ? What meant those mysterious 
signs of intelligence ? What meant the appearance of those ill- 
omened faces that precede troubles as surely as the stormy petrel 
heralds the approaching tempest ? What meant those ferocious 
cries and abominable choruses, which were occasionally indulged 
in, redolent, as they were, of the guillotine and of pillage ? The 
Assembly met, and so preoccupied were members with the idea 
of a cowp d'etat, that Odilon Barrot felt it necessary to open the 
day's proceedings \xith a speech, explaining the measures resolved 



DEBATES IN THE ASSEMBLY. 367 



upon relative to the Mobile Guard, the agitation it had caused, 
the hopes excited among the Clubs, and the necessity for taking 
precautions against disturbance. 

The Assembly did not part that evening, however, until, after 
a long discussion, it passed a vote by which the principle of its 
dissolution was accepted. Thus the coux> d'etat, had such 
been contemplated, was averted — the impeachment was virtually 
killed, and a day, which at the opening presented so extraordi- 
nary an analogy to that of the morning of the 24th of February, 
closed with a decisive victory for the Government. Reasoning 
back from the advantage gained, as is habitual to the human 
mind, it was then said that the whole paraphernalia of the day 
had been gotten up to terrify the Assembly into voting its own 
dissolution. Recovering from its surprise, the Opposition demand- 
ed, on Saturday, the 3d of February, that there should be a 
parliamentary inquiry into the circumstances connected with the 
military display of the previous Monday. The Minister of the 
Interior opposed the inquiry, and was beaten by a majority of 
twenty. Then was brought to the test, the question whether 
the Ministry would retire or not, before a vote of the Assembly. 
They repaired to the Elysee Nationale, and on consultation with 
the President of the Republic, it was ruled in the negative. 
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was therefore, with his Ministers, 
against the majority. The following Monday, the Minister of 
the Interior ascended the tribune, and laid before the Assembly, 
extracts from a considerable number of reports, calculated to 
prove that a conspiracy had been matured, and would have 
broken out, with all possible accompaniments of horror, on the 
Monday in question, only for the timely precautions of the Gov- 
ernment. The statement, undoubtedly produced a great impres- 
sion, and General Oudinot came to the support of the Govern- 
ment, with an amended proposition. There had, in fact, been 
mixed up with the demand for the inquiry, an accusation against 
the Minister of the Interior, that he had issued an offensive 
circular, which, in point of fact, had been forwarded under his 
official cover, but by an individual not connected with his office. 
General Oudinot, taking advantage of the Minister's apologetic 



368 CAVAIGNAC AND CHANGARNIER. 

explanation, moved that the Assembly, satisfied with the disa- 
vowal of the Minister, pass to the order of the day, which was 
carried, and the demand for a parliamentary committee of inquiry 
virtually fell to the ground. At length, on the 8th of February, 
after a long contested struggle, during which various propositions 
had been offered and rejected, it was settled, on the motion of M. 
Lanjuinais, that the Assembly, as soon as it should have passed 
three organic laws — to wit, a law organizing the Council of 
State, an Electoral law, and a law regulating the powers of the 
Executive — would dissolve. This resolution would, according 
to calculation, bring about a dissolution in May. The Opposi- 
tion stipulated, that in the interval, as much time as possible 
should be devoted to the consideration of the financial expendi- 
ture of the country, in order that the Constituent Assembly might 
have, at least, the glory of endowing the country with a moder- 
ate budget, and thus relieve the people from excessive taxation. 
The narration of the events, connected more or less with the 
mysterious Monday, would not be complete, if we failed to notice 
an incident which deeply moved the Assembly and the public. 
From the moment that General Cavaignac bade adieu to power, 
he had ceased to take part in the debates of the Assembly, and 
after a little while returned to the country, to recruit his health 
at all times delicate. He was, nevertheless, regarded with pride, 
by the Republican party ; he was their head and chief — the 
man on whom their hopes settled. Had not Cavaignac arisen, 
that party could not have boasted the possession of a truly great 
and competent man. 

During his absence, a legitimist newspaper — the Union — 
contained a paragraph, the sense of which was, that General 
Cavaignac had been tampering with the army, but that General 
Changarnier had detected his projects. The public gave little 
attention to this loose and idle statement ; yet it seemed to have 
produced a painful impression on the mind of the gallant General 
against whom it was pointed. The newspaper was supposed to 
be in accordance, in its general principles, with those entertained 
by the Commander-in-Chief, and it was on account, probably, of 
this impression, that General Cavaignac took the course of bring- 



CAVAIGNAC AND CHANGARNIER. 369 

iiig the matter publicly under the notice of the Government 
The Minister of" the Interior unhesitatingly pronounced the 
calumnious article to be beneath contempt. 

General Changarnier rose next. He began by declaring that 
he had no connection, directly or indirectly, with the newspaper 
in question. Betraying how much his own feelings were hurt, 
he expressed surprise that General Cavaignac, who had long 
served with him, had not known him better than to have imag- 
ined that he could have been a party to such a proceeding. 
Never had he condescended, he said, to Police Acts, and certainly 
he had not troubled himself with inquiries into the details of 
General Cavaignac's conduct. The affair began now to take a 
dramatic turn. " I know that his conduct is honorable," emphat- 
ically spoke the Commander-in-Chief; on which General Ca- 
vaignac gave a disdainful toss of his head, which evidently stung 
Changarnier, who, drawing himself up, and directing his eye to 
the former, apostrophized him personally, " General, it is not with 
the object of paying you compliments that I speak ; do not repel 
them I We have served long enough together for me to know 
you, and it seems to me, besides, that my testimony should not 
be treated with disdain. I have often had the satisfaction, and 
it was for me of the liveliest kind, of contributing to your ad- 
vancement, and my sentiments regarding you can not be called in 
question." He went on to express his surprise that the matter 
had not been brought under his immediate notice, and repelled 
all participation in the article. 

General Cavaignac replied, that he was quite aware of the 
only answer which could have been given, but that it was essen- 
tial that the country at large should know it. The scene was, 
indeed, remarkable. Both were proud ; but the pride of Chan- 
garnier was that of a military superior, displaying habitual 
liauteur, which Cavaignac, who had been his subordinate, would 
no longer tolerate. While the former could not divest himself 
of this notion of superior rank, he felt sore on another account. 
If Cavaignac had saved society in June, had not he, Changar- 
nier, saved society in April. Political act for political act — their 
merits were, at least so he might have felt, the same ; and if it 



370 CHANGARNIER. 



had been his good fortune to have been in Paris in June, he 
would, in all probability, have contested the supreme command. 
The great title of Cavaignac, was precisely that which Chan- 
garnier was the least disposed to admit. 

The jealousy of French officers under Napoleon had become 
proverbial ; and without implying that Changarnier was jealous, 
yet he never did exhibit that frank, comrade-like spirit, which 
marked the intercourse of Lamoriciere and Bedeau. If not a 
better soldier, he was the elder. General Changarnier is one of 
the most distinguished officers of the Algerine army. His char- 
acteristic is intrepid coolness. No peril or difficulty can shake 
his judgment, or excite him. His features are small, and when 
he was a young man, may have been even effeminate, but there is 
a play of electric quickness over them, such as portraits fail to 
communicate. Should he be called into action against rebellion, 
he would be the Claverhouse of the time. His manner is facile, 
and ever gay. He is easy of access, and his speech is character- 
ized by a spice of caustic humor. Yet, in temper, he is arbitrary, 
and unbending in the maintenance of authority. By whim, of 
which he possesses a good deal, he chooses to seat himself among 
the ultra-democrats, and not unfrequently cracks a joke at the 
Mountain. Having failed in their efibrts to have him deprived 
of his united command, the Opposition refused to allow the de- 
mand for his pay. "Very well, gentlemen," pleasantly remarked 
Changarnier, -'if it comes to blows, I must only fight you 
gratis.^' 

The high reputation and the pleasantry of this elderly (for he 
is not old) soldier did not, though such combinations usually con- 
ciliate, in the least appease the ultra-republican representatives. 
The seat he had chosen was probably an additional offense. 
Fearing, they hated him, while their ill-conceived dislike ap- 
peared to cause him diversion, on which account they hated him 
the more. His grotesque pleasantry, " that it would have been 
as easy to make an emperor as a box of bo?i-bons,''' was too pun- 
gent and too true to be forgiven. It was taken to express a 
foregone conclusion. 

Never will the Republican party believe that Changarnier 



CHANG ARNIER. 371 



accepted the Republic except as a temporary necessity. The 
party desirous of maintaining order rely on his honor and fidelity. 
Such is the man to whom the peace of Paris was confided by 
Louis Napoleon, on the advice of Odilon Barrot and his Cabinet. 
His conduct on Monday, the 29th January, the perfection of his 
strategic arrangements, would alone justify the opinion enter- 
tained of his judgment and capacity. 



CONCLUSION. 

Having brought to a close these personal sketches and notes, 
the writer would feel it to be a misfortune if from the whole 
should result a conclusion derogatory to the character of political 
representative bodies. There has already been too much incon- 
siderate condemnation of popular legislative assemblies caused by 
the irregular efforts of Roman and Tuscan demagogues ; the rash 
and all but fatal precipitation of the raw Parliament of Piedmont, 
and the crude efforts at Constitution-making at Berlin and Vien- 
na ; with, to crown the whole, the mystic discussions of the 
German Parliament at Frankfort. 

It should be recollected that if, in all these instances, there was 
more or less of giddiness, it was because of human infirmity, not 
able to bear the first rays of constitutional light. In no instance 
has the Parliament made the revolution ; on the contrary, the 
Parliament is born of the revolution ; and if for some time the 
representative body betrays the violence of its origin by repre- 
hensible conduct — yet the probability is, that the first efierves- 
cence over, and as soon as the Assembly would drop under the 
yoke of those customary rules from which no constituted Assem- 
bly can escape ; with habits of open debate, and of private con- 
versations and consultations leading to the formation of disciplined 
parties, under the irrepressible ascendency of rising leaders of 
talent and of worth — the least promising Assembly would very 
Boon put an end to anarchy, and finally establish order in connec- 
tion with liberty. ^ 

Neither the German nor the Italian Constituent Assemblies 
or Parliaments have had a fair trial. The Frankfort Parlia- 
ment, which has been the least exposed to club excitement, dem- 
agogue tyranny, and least hampered by the control and suspicion 
of sovereigns, has preserved throughout a highly respectable atti- 
tude. If it has not shown a practical spirit, it may be for the 



THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. 373 

reason that the nature of its mission was such as to preclude the 
fair consideration of practical questions. 

The French Constituent Assembly has stood in a situation dif- 
ferent from all, and, indeed, one altogether unique and unparal- 
leled. The club and demagogue operations, which had such free 
scope in other countries, were in France brought to bear upon a 
nation habituated to upward of thirty years' representative gov- 
ernment, and the consequence was such as we have seen — that 
there were returned to the Assembly, along with the foremost 
revolutionists, a fair amount of established political reputations. 
By degrees these reputations win their way, until eventually they 
command, as of old, the support of opinion out of doors. 

The Constituent Assembly, although it did for some time obey 
the wild impulse to which it owed life, yet grew more and more 
sober ; and while it must be acknowledged that even in its early 
days it rescued society from the Clubs, whose irregular influence 
it absorbed into its own regular form, it did, ere itself decreed its 
dissolution, refuse to gratify factions, by involving the country in 
war. The country, notwithstanding the faults committed by the 
Assembly, owes to the latter a debt of gratitude. It repealed, 
modified, or corrected, the destructive decrees of the Provisional 
Government, respected the rights of property, family, and religion ; 
and while resisting wild or impracticable theories, manifested 
sympathy for the suffering classes, and promoted education. Nor 
can it with truth be said that it unsettled every thing ; on the 
contrary, finding every thing unsettled, it did settle a great deal. 

It will now be concluded, perhaps, that inasmuch as the Constit- 
uent Assembly, elected mider such circumstances, continued yet to 
advance so far in the track of what may, with due reference to 
circumstances, be comparatively called Conservatism ; that the 
Legislative Assembly, chosen in tranquil times under the auspi- 
ces of a settled Government, whose motto is order, will difier 
little from the old Monarchical Chamber, and restore the Mon- 
archy. Certain it is that there is only one party which at this 
moment looks on the Constitution as settled, and that is the mod- 
erate Republican party, of which Cavaignac is the head, and the 
National the organ. The Red Republicans and the Socialists, 



374 • THE NEW ASSEMBLY. 



forming the Mountain, are already clamoring for two fundamental 
changes — the removal of the President, and the droit au travail; 
and if we admit that the Bonapartists and Monarchists have 
relinquished all hopes of restoring one or other of the represent- 
atives of the different dynasties, yet it can hardly be supposed 
that they have relinquished the hope of creating a second 
Chamber. 

Against the hopes of both, the moderate Republicans have 
taken every possible security. They have framed an electoral 
law, by which all magistrates, functionaries, and officials who are 
biassed in favor of old forms, are disqualified from becoming mem.- 
bers of the Legislative Assembly. They have created a Council 
of State, with ample privileges of supervision over all laws and 
all acts of administration, and they have chosen the preponder- 
ating majority of the Members of this Council from among ap- 
proved Republicans— and in so doing, they have undoubtedly 
built up a strong security for the Republican form. 

In consequence of the disqualification created by the electoral 
law, it will not be easy to speculate even for some time on the 
character of the Legislative. The Convention which made the 
reign of terror was composed of new men. By a decree of the 
previous Assembly the members, from some strange notion of dis- 
interestedness, resolved that they should not seek to be returned ; 
thus the way was opened to untried adventurers, unabashed and 
uncontrolled by the presence of established reputations. Similar 
results may not be apprehended now, although those who pushed 
for the disqualification of all public functionaries, had probably 
the Convention in their mind's eye, and expected, at all events, 
that the Republic would be safe in the hands of the more ardent 
class, for whom room has been made. Yet it seldom happens 
that results justify party calculations. As there are few men of 
independent fortune in France, and if professional men be obliged 
to resign their means of living, we may expect the new Assembly 
to be composed in part of those who having been functionaries 
can, with the assistance of twenty-five francs a day allowed to 
representatives, afford to give up employment ; of manufacturers 
and men of independent estate ; and of small landed proprietors, 



COMMUNISM. 375 



with the usual infusion of doctors and advocates. The three 
jfirst categories would be conservative — but it rnay be open to 
conjecture whether the mass of small landed proprietors, likely to 
make the majority, will not lean to the Empire. If this con 
jecture should prove correct, the caution taken by the Repub- 
licans through their system of disqualification, would serve a very 
opposite purpose to that which they had in view. Formerly the 
influence exercised by the capital over the provinces was such 
that the latter did not dare to dispute its supremacy. Now it is 
not so. The Revolution of February has given a deep stab to 
the system of centrahzation. The provincial councils instead of 
meeting to talk of roads, schools, and infirmaries, assemble now 
to consider what measures of defense might be necessary in case 
of a Red Republican revolution, and whether a march of the 
departments on Paris might not be advisable for the sake of 
bringing its corrupt population to reason. 

It is a curious phenomenon in the history of French parties, 
that the attention of all should be turned toward home. Foreign 
politics, that used to possess exclusive fascination, have lost their 
savor. It is not that ambition is dead, that the military passion 
is extinct, that the desire for exercising sway over the continent 
is subdued, but that society is itself in peril ; and until the peril 
be allayed, France must look to herself. The cancer of Com- 
munism is at her heart, nor is it a complaint of yesterday, it is 
one of old standing. It was planted by the Encyclopaedists of 
the eighteenth century. The doctrine, which denying a Divine 
Providence, and as a consequence, the whole code of morals 
based on Revolution, did indeed lay the root of Communism, 
which is Materialism pushed to its extreme consequences. Eman- 
cipated from all received traditions, rules, laws, and social ties, 
every quack deems himself at liberty to create a new world, 
admitting with becoming candor, that chaos must precede form 
and order. It is by the use of this fearful analogy that he justi- 
fies to himself, the terrible ruin which must be the preliminary 
to his work. Through some such stage of mind as this, the 
French youth must go. In other countries the moral meazles 
may take other forms, but in France the romance of teenship is 



376 THE TWO DYNASTIES— THE BONAPARTISTS. 

desperately destructive. The plodding professors of more ad- 
vanced years have an army of allies of a formidable character. 
It is the conviction with which the Conservative classes are 
impressed, that the evil lies too deep to be cured by any mere 
form of political institutions, that the Republic is not threatened 
with any active combination against it. Political faith is very 
weak ; the majority would put up with any regime that would 
maintain tranquillity. The activity of the Socialists will not 
allow such passiveness to exist, and their conspiracies will drive 
the orderly disposed into the adoption of stronger measures of 
protection. Only for the newly awakened enthusiasm in the 
provinces, the chances for a restoration of the elder dynasty 
would have been very great. 

The middle classes in the towns would prefer the Orleans 
dynasty, and until the magic name of Napoleon had been pro- 
nounced, a fusion of dynastic interests appeared advisable, and of 
no difficult accomplishment. The raiiddle classes do not relish 
the idea of a restoration of an elder branch, with which they 
associate Aristocracy and Jesuitism ; but they might have been 
brought to accept a compromise, which would open the prospect 
of a return of the Orleanists, which was emphatically a bourgeois 
dynasty. Louis Napoleon, whether by taste or policy, has turned 
toward the bourgeoisie. His Prime Minister is the political 
disciple and successor of Lafayette. Thus with the peasantry 
and small proprietary at his back, with the clergy by no means 
hostile, he turns to the bourgeoisie ; should he succeed in win- 
ning over this powerful class, he would combine the partisans of 
both branches. The bourgeoisie will not, however, be easily 
made to forget the position they enjoyed under Louis-Philippe. 
They will be the less disposed to forget it on account of the 
injuries they are enduring at the hands of the Socialists, while 
they are so feebly defended by the Republicans. With the 
shopkeepers and merchants and manufacturers, the Duchess of 
Orleans and the Prince de Joinville are as popular as is the Duke 
of Bordeaux in the Faubourg St. Germain. 

Louis Napoleon can not be said to have sure footing in the 
metropolis. His prospects must, then, depend upon the composi- 



CONCLUSION. 377 



tioii of the Assembly that shall be returned by the provinces. 
The majority will be, in all probability, Bonapartists ; but what 
will the leaders be ? This majority will be composed, perhaps, 
of men unaccustomed to public life. Some Bonapartist leader 
of genius and eloquence may spring up, but at present we see no 
such man. For a while, then, it would seem as if all parties 
should be forced to observe an expectant position. Monarchists, 
Bonapartists, and even Republicans, will fear to stir lest they 
should make an opening for the watchful Socialists. A rash 
move on the part of the latter would, should a second June be 
occasioned, precipitate a decision in the Monarchical or Bona- 
partist sense. It would seem, then, that those who expect very 
prompt reactionary movements on the part of the new Assembly, 
may be disappointed ; and yet the rapidity with which a move- 
ment, when once set in motion extends, so as to embrace all 
classes, before they have time to reflect, is one of those traits of 
the Gallic temperament that prohibits prognostication. It may, 
however, be surmised, that the disposition and tendencies of the 
Assembly will be checked by the mutual distrusts of parties, the 
temper of the metropolis, and the views of leading statesmen. 



THE END. 



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COISTITUEIT ASSEMBLY, 



FROM MAY, 1848. 



BY J. F. CORKRAN, ESQ. 



NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

82 CLIFF STREET, 

1849. 




nrpH m4 Sr0tljn0' 



Southey's CommoR-place Book. 

Being choice Selections from celebrated Authors. • Ed- 
ited by his Son-in-law, J. Wogd-Wabter, B.D. 
8yo. Publishing in Parts, 50 cents each. ' 

Gieseler's Compendium of Eccle- 
siastical History, 

From the Fourth Edition, revised and amended, by 
S. Davidson, LL.D. 2 vols. 8vo,' Muslin^ $3 00. 



The Magic of Kindness 



Or, the Wondrous Story of the Good Huan. By the 
Brothers Mayhew, With numerous Illustrations. 
18mo, Paper, 35 cents ; Muslin, 45 cents. ■ - 

Dante's Divine Comedy : The In- 
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A literal Prose Translation, with the Text of the Orig- 
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Notes, by JoHN A. Carlyle, M.D. 12m6, Mus- 
lin, $1 00. 

Chalmers's Posthumous Works. 

Seven Volumes have been published, comprising Daily 
Scriptare Readings, 3 vols. — - Sabbath Scripture 
Readings, 2 vols. — Sermons, 1 vol.^Institutes of 
Theology, 1 vol. 12mo. Price per Volume, Mus- 
lin, $1 00 ; Sheep extra, $1 25. 

Typee : a Peep at Polynesian Life, 

During a Four Months' Residence in a Valley of the 
Marquesas. By Herman Melville. The revised 
Edition, with a Sequel. 12mo, Paper, 75 cents ; 
Muslin, 87^ cents. 

Mardi: and a Vovage Thither. 

By Hermajs Melville. 2 vols. 12mo, Muslin, $1 75. 

Omoo ; or, a Narrative of Adven- 
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By Herman Melville. 12mo, Paper, $1 00 ; Mus- 
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Life in the Far West. 

By George P. Ruxton. 12mo, Muslin, 60 cents. 

History of Wonderful Inventions. 

Forming Volume V. of the "Boy's Own Library." 
Embellished with numerous Illustrations. 12mo, 
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The Woodman: 

A Romance of the Times of Richard III. By G. P. 
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Findlay's Classical Atlas, 

To Illustrate Ancient Geography ; comprised in 5;5 
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as known to the Ancients. The Maps are beauti'i' 
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Abbott's Histories. 

'Comprising Mary Queen of Scots — Charles I. — AI. 

■ ander the Great — Hannibal — Queen Elizabeth 
Charles II. — Maria Antoinette — Julius Caesar. Ea* 
Volume is handsomely printed, tastefully bound, a', 
adorned with an elegantly Illuminated Title-j 
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; lin, plain edges, 60 cents ; Muslin, gilt edgtf^ 

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Bepjamin Franklin: 

5is Autobiography ; with a Narrative of his Pu| 

Life and Services,' by Rev; "H." Hastings WbI 

. Embellished with 'numerous exquisite DesignsJ 

J. G: Chapman. ' Bvo,- Muslin, $2 50 ; Sheep exi 

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Kfacaulay's History of Englanj 

From the Accession of James II. An Elegant Libr 
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Noel's Essay on the Union 
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The Incarnation 



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Agnes Morris 



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Oregon and California in 184f 

By Judge Thornton. With an Appendix, inclndi 
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